The Enchanted Tree

The Enchanted Tree

Richard Doyle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Doyle belonged to family of artists and was trained by his father the satirist John Doyle. He joined the staff of "Punch Magazine" at the age of nineteen and soon redesigned the journal's now famous title page. This watercolor marks the moment when, after great success as an illustrator, Doyle turned his attention to producing exhibition watercolors. "The Enchanted Tree" was shown at the Royal Academy in 1868 and centers on a large elm. From its extended roots, exuberant fairies spill out into the woods as the sun sets. The group includes a king, who gleefully kicks off his crown, followed by his queen and baby. A bevy of young women dressed in pale blue gowns and wearing circlets of flowers, awake in a bower, or chases butterflies. At lower right, a musical troupe playing a tambourine, harp, cymbals, horn and violin lead armored figures out through a rooted passageway while above, workers carrying tools set off purposefully into the landscape.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.