“The Cat and Mouse in Partnership”
This fanciful watercolor and ink illustration dates to 1909 and is by the well-known English Golden Age Illustrator, Arthur Rackham. It was made for the Brothers Grimm story, ‘The Cat and Mouse in Partnership’ and its caption reads “The Cat stole away behind the city walls to the church”.
This story follows the unlikely friendship of a cat and mouse who were such good friends that they decided to live together. Together, they buy a pot of fat to store for the upcoming winter. The cat is sly and over time, eats up the pot of fat without telling the mouse. When winter arrives and the mouse asks about the pot of fat, he finds out the truth and… well… it does not end well for the poor little mouse. In fact, ‘The Cat and Mouse in Partnership’ ends with “And that is the way of the world”.
In 1909, Rackham illustrated The Fairy Tales of Brother Grimm. This edition contained 61 stories and was edited by Jeff A. Menges. Earlier, in 1900, he had illustrated a book based on the same subject. The 1900 edition contained 100 black and white pieces. Rackham spent the following decade reworking the originals, either redrawing them or adding color. He also created new illustrations to accompany the 1909 edition. Overall, it had 40 illustrations including this one here.
When the 1909 edition was released, Rackham’s work immediately received great reviews including this one: Mr. Rackham’s genius is at its best in subjects that are weird and imaginative, and in this work, he has had a wide scope for his talents. But Mr. Rackham’s work is not always weird, for, when occasion demands, his drawings are full of quiet beauty and graceful composition. His consummate draughtsmanship is always evident, and particularly so in his illustrations to “Grimm.” These wonderful stories have never been so worthily illustrated as in this volume’.
With this wonderful piece from ‘The Cat and Mouse in Partnership’, I tend to agree.
For more on Arthur Rackham, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
