What are your Favourite Collectables?
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The first written record of fairies in English Literature was in Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which later inspired the Victorian painters in their portrayal of fairyland and led to fairies becoming very popular.
The images were taken from the ballet, which caused such a sensation in the 1830s. The etherial, white draped ballerinas who tip toed and glided around a limelit stage, as though on wings, inspired a world of delicate, coy fairies.
Many people remember the flower fairies as enchanting mythical figures from their childhood, while nowadays we see them on greeting cards and giftware. The Flower Fairies were created by Cicely Mary Barker in 1923, when she had her first series of drawings published in a book. Since then her works have become children’s classics and are sold around the world.
Cicely Mary Barker was born in Croydon, South London in 1895 and being a sickly child she was educated at home. Cicely excelled at pastel drawing and taught herself to paint in oils and watercolours. Her father encouraged her to draw and together they joined the Croydon Art Society in 1908.