Little Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty)

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Artist: Eugen Napoleon Neureuther (German, 1806–1862)
Medium: Steel etching
Size: Platemark: 66.5 x 50 cm (26 3/16 x 19 11/16 in.); Sheet: 72.5 x 54.5 cm (28 9/16 x 21 7/16 in.)
Culture: Germany, 19th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Eugen Napoleon Neureuther depicted a key episode from a classic fairy tale. The title character in Little Briar Rose is awakened from an enchanted sleep by a prince’s kiss. Neureuther centered the composition on the meeting with the prince that leads to the story’s happy ending. His portrayal coincided with a revived interest in such folktales in Germany during the 1800s, culminating in the publication of the Brothers Grimm’s Children’s and Household Tales in 1812. Neureuther used that book’s versions of the two tales as source material, even including a story’s text in one print.