The crown prince, standing alone, so small, so appealing, against his magnificent background, was a picture to touch the hardest

The crown prince, standing alone, so small, so appealing, against his magnificent background, was a picture to touch the hardest
The crown prince, standing alone, so small, so appealing, against his magnificent background, was a picture to touch the hardest

The crown prince, standing alone, so small, so appealing, against his magnificent background, was a picture to touch the hardest

Date1917
Artist (American artist and illustrator, 1877–1960)
Illustration Citation"Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, June 1917
MediumCrayon and watercolor on illustration board
Dimensions18 × 20 5/8 in. (45.7 × 52.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
Object number1971-41
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextIn this scene from a story about the heir to the throne of a fictional European kingdom, a young prince is accompanied by his ministers. On this day-his eleventh birthday-he must receive a delegation of state visitors and important citizens. Royal duty prevents him from enjoying a party or receiving gifts. Arthur Becher developed his skill with crayon during his work in a lithographic company in his native Milwaukee, before his study with Howard Pyle.

The story belongs to a genre known as Ruritanian fiction, which was inspired by the eponymous fictional kingdom in Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda (1894). Centered on romance and intrigue, the plots often involved the restoration of a monarchy or government displaced by a dictator.





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