The Court Ladies Dressed Gerda - Women Illustrators

Women illustrators were alive, well, and quite active in the early 20th century. Most of their production was associated with topics that dealt with the home, children or fairy tales. In this masterfully rendered work in pen and ink, Jacobs displays great technical skill in presenting three maidens dressing a beautiful female member of the Court wearing a tiara. Signed in a cartouche lower right
From: Stella Mead, Great Stories from Many Lands, London: James Herbert and Co, 1936, page 78 " Red and White Roses"
Provenance: Chris Beetles
Work is elegantly matted and not framed.

Helen Mary Jacobs was born in Ilford, Essex, the sister of the writer W.W. Jacobs; she studied art at the West Ham Municipal College. She illustrated children’s books in pen, ink and watercolor. Towards the end of her career she specialized in drawings for educational books.

The artist first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1910. She contributed to annuals such as Playbox, Rainbow and Little Folks, but very soon all the major publishers including Hodder & Stoughton, Ward Lock & SPCK, were commissioning her.

She also created a series of drawings of Moths for Lord Rothschild. From 1912 she had made enough to move to Winchmore Hill. She wanted to put back into the community - From Ask Art