Circle of Frederick Cayley Robinson ARA RWS Symbolist Set Design: The Proud Princesses

An original c.1910s gouache painting, Circle of Frederick Cayley Robinson ARA RWS, Symbolist Set Design: The Proud Princesses.

A gorgeous painting in gouache, this image features elements of decorative Art Nouveau, Art Deco and mystical Symbolism. It appears to be a set design, with the accompanying title 'The Proud Princesses'; this possibly is a version of the traditional fairytale known as The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

The painting is in the vein of various artist-designer-illustrators who turned their hand to theatre set design in the opening decades of the 20th century. In particular it bears similarity to the work of Frederick Cayley Robinson ARA RWS (1862–1927), who repeatedly utilised motifs such as girls or young women dancing in a ring, moonlight and cypress trees. Robinson was influenced by the Edward Burne-Jones and Pre-Raphaelite movement, and the works of the French symbolist painter, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes; here the princesses adopt a medievalism redolent of Pre-Raphaelitism as well as a dreamlike classicism evocative of the robed maidens of Puvis de Chavannes. The upright linearity of the composition, and its symmetry, are also features of Robinson's designs.

Frederick Cayley Robinson produced designs for Maurice Maeterlinck's 'fairy play', The Blue Bird—described as a 'transcendental pantomime' or 'philosophical Peter Pan'—which premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in December 1909. The play and its publication were an immediate success and it was re-issued in 1911 with illustrations by Robinson. Whilst the present design is not amongst Robinson's published illustrations for this, the motifs and structure of the painting, including the title section originally positioned below, bear striking similarity to them.

In gouache and wash on cream wove paper.

The paper is accompanied by (but detached from) its original card backing. The card backing has historically been cut, separating the lower part bearing the picture's title, but it is now hinged back together for reference. Please see photos for detail.