Charles Prendergast (1863-1948)
Fairy Story, 1922 (Reworked ca. 1942-46)
Tempera on incised, gessoed panel
Williams College Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Charles Prendergast, 86.18.26
Charles Prendergast (1863-1948)
Frame, 19th-20th Century
Gilding and wood
Williams College Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Charles Prendergast
In Fairy Story, overlapping hills suggest terraced gardens of the Far East. The landscape is populated with whimsical birds and animals, interspersed with small groups of figures tending exotic flora and fauna. Many of these elements, such as the boar, swan, and deer, reappear in his later works, including Decoration on Glass, ca. 1925-30. Several pictorial elements within Fairy Story were borrowed directly from an illustrated book owed by the Prendergast brothers, entitled Etoffes Byzantines, Coptes, Romaines, etc. du IV au X siècle, 1922, which consisted of colored plates of fragments of Byzantine and Coptic textiles.