The Wren and the Bear

Arthur Rackham, 1902

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Artist: Arthur Rackham (British, 1867–1939)
Medium: Brush and black ink and pen and black ink, with watercolor, on paper
Size: Sheet: 36.7 x 25.8 cm (14 7/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
Culture: England, early 20th Century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

The battle depicted here between flying and land animals is from the fairy tale “The Wren and the Bear.” The bear insults the wren, the king of the birds, leading to a war. Most of Arthur Rackham’s best-known illustrations combine intricate line work with delicate coloring. However, he also produced some silhouette illustrations like this one, created for a luxury edition of Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. The illustration won a gold medal at the 1906 Milan International Exhibition, where it was exhibited as The Battle between the Air and the Earth.