Merrymind and His Burden

Image Not Available for Merrymind and His Burden
Merrymind and His Burden
Image Not Available for Merrymind and His Burden

Merrymind and His Burden

Date1916
Illustration Citation"The Story of Merrymind," in Granny's Wonderful Chair and its Tales of Fairy Times, by Frances Browne (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1916)
MediumGouache, paint, and graphite on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 11 15/16 × 9 3/16 in. (30.3 × 23.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. R. H. Nones, 1940
Object number1940-5
On View
Not on view
Label TextIn this fairy tale, the boy Merrymind has various adventures on his way to becoming the king's fiddler. Here he struggles to carry the basket of an old man while also holding on to his prized fiddle.

The youngest child of the Pyle family, Katharine was prolific as both author and illustrator. At the turn of the twentieth century, many considered art an appropriate extension of women's "natural" talent for beautifying their surroundings, but there was still resistance to women as professional artists. The artist and illustrator Joseph Pennell offered Katharine Pyle as an example of why there was "no earthly reason why women should not be illustrators."
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