By Amelia Chase
Virginia Frances Sterrett was a talented Chicago-born artist who, as a child, preferred art and imagination to social experiences. After her father’s death and their family’s relocation to Missouri, Sterrett began to win Kansas State Fair art competitions. She then returned to her hometown and spent some time in the Art Institute of Chicago before leaving to care for her mother who had fallen ill. Shortly after, Virginia was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which began to shape her life path as well as the fragile essence of her art.
When she turned 19, she was commissioned to illustrate Old French Fairy Tales (1920), stories originally by the Comtesse de Ségur, a 19th-century French salon author. Her moralistic tales such as “Blondine” and “Princess Rosette” blend courtship, romance, virtue and magical enchantment. Sterrett’s Art Nouveau style renovated medieval stories for modern audiences. She later illustrated Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales (1921), the retelling of Greek myths, as well as Arabian Nights (1928). Despite her short life and promising future, Sterrett’s illustrations continue to shape the visual imagination of classic fairy tales today.
Illustrator: Virginia Frances Sterrett
Comtesse de Ségur, Old French Fairy Tales (Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Co., 1920)
Courtesy of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University
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“Princess Rosette”
In this image, Rosette and Prince Charmant stand suspended between tension and celebration as they take a moment to step away from the looming landscape around them. Though the festival continues, they are briefly removed from it, while the background hints at the watchful forces and expectations that shape their fate.
Visually, their tall, slender figures exaggerate their delicacy, and at the same time the image reflects the Art Nouveau style, showing an emphasis on beauty and nature. As her sisters, Orangine and Roussette, scheme to destroy and torment Rosette, she and the prince find strength in the years he spent as the devoted cat who watched over her alongside the bonne niche as her guardian, and now as her prince.
The evening setting adds another element to their emotionally expressive world, representing change, transition, and a quiet moment between what was and what will be. The style and story show two young lovers standing calmly side by side, even as danger and jealousy close in on them. The subtle Orientalist architecture resembles the cross-cultural influences of Art Nouveau and enhances the fairy-tale atmosphere.
“She Threw Her Arms Over the Neck of the Bonne Niche”
Here we see Blondine awakening from her seven-year enchanted sleep after being abandoned in the forest by her evil stepmother, a narrative that reflects the classic seventeenth-century salon theme of inheritance and jealousy. The composition centers Blondine and the bonne niche, drawing the viewer’s eye to their quiet interaction. Their pale figures stand out sharply against the dark background, creating a strong contrast. The symmetry and vertical lines direct the gaze to the center, making the moment feel intimate. She was discovered by Bonne Niche, a magical deer who is secretly an enchanted princess. Alongside the loyal cat, who is in fact an enchanted prince, Bonne Niche teaches Blondine to read, write, and play music during her enchanted sleep, allowing her to awaken to a wiser life.
“Leger meets the wicked princess, Fourbette”
In this black and white illustration, we see the Leger searching for a new wife for the king to secure a son and heir to the throne. The contrast between the Princess and Leger is striking: he is seen bowing and restrained, whereas Fourbette commands the scene as she is positioned over him – her presence is elevated and theatrical. Her ornate costume and exaggerated silhouette heighten the drama, transforming her into something predatory, reflecting how powerful female figures were often portrayed during this period. As she leans over Leger, wearing a grand headdress, and with a piercing gaze, she is more than just a “wicked princess.” She also embodies this era’s perspective of the seductive woman: her beauty is acknowledged as well as her wickedness.
Produced around the time of the 1920s suffragette movement, this image exhibits shifting gender roles. The repetition of circular and squared forms across her costume and the background curtain reflects the ornamental tendencies of Art Nouveau while subtly reinforcing her visual prominence in the scene