Victorian Fairy Paintings

This section includes a special genre of fantasies that make abundant use of mushrooms to emphasize how close the world of fairies is to that of the mushrooms.

Click on any thumbnail below to enlarge.

Boyle, Eleanor Vere. British. 1825-1916

[a] Fairies Sitting On Two Flowers Or White Clitocyboid Mushrooms. 1872

Medium: Illustration to Thumbkinetta (H. C. Anderson’s fairy tale)
Mushroom description: Possible white clitocyboid mushrooms
Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

[b] But He Was Only Sunk in a Dream of Delight

Medium: Illustration for the book, The Story without an End
Reference: Carove, Friedrich Wilhelm and Austin, Sarah. The Story without an End. Columbia, SC: Camden House. 1995.
Note: Originally published in German in 1930. Sarah Austin has translated the edition listed here, the most recent translation.

Cruikshank, George. British. 1792-1878

[a] A Fantasy — The Fairy Ring. ca. 1850

Medium: Unknown
Mushroom description: Circle with raised edge of fairies?, with huge mushroom in center
Location: British Museum, London
Media: The Independent

[b] A Fairy Dance

Medium: Pen, ink, and watercolor; size: 26.8 x 42 cm.
Mushroom description: Royal fairy couple seated on a large white mushroom, perhaps an Agaricus
Location: Maas Gallery, London
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Dadd, Richard. British. 1817-1887

[a] Puck. 1841

Medium: Oils on canvas; size: approximately 23 X 23 in.
Mushroom description: A mature bolete
Location: Private collection
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.
Note: Puck sitting on a toadstool originated with Sir Joshua Reynolds, who also painted a Puck for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery.
Web: Emory University

[b] Titania Sleeping

Medium: Not available
Mushroom description: Stylized cap mushrooms scattered on ground
Location: The Louvre, Paris
Reference: More on this painting at The Victorian Web
Web: The Victorian Web

[c] Contradiction: Oberon and Titania. 1854-8

Medium: Oils on oval canvas; size: 61 x 75.5 cm.
Mushroom description: Several tan agarics at Oberon’s feet
Location: Collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Danby, Francis. British. 1793-1861

Scene From a Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1832

Medium: Watercolors; size: 19.7 x 29.0 cm.
Mushroom description:
Location: Oldham Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK.
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Doyle, Richard. British. 1824-1883

[a] The Triumphal March of the Elf King

Medium: Lithograph
Mushroom description: Several light tan campanulate agarics in grass
Location: Unknown
Web: The Victorian Web

[b] Fairy Rings and Toadstools

Medium: Lithograph
Mushroom description: Russula-like mushrooms with fairies dancing around them
Location: Unknown
Web: The Victorian Web

[c] He Finds Her And This Is The Consequence

Medium: Lithograph
Mushroom description: Two fairies kissing across a Russsula-like mushroom
Location: Unknown
Web: The Victorian Web

[d] An Elfin Dance By Night

Medium: Lithograph
Mushroom description: Several campanulate mushrooms
Location: Unknown
Web: The Victorian Web

[e] Reposing by Night

Mushroom description: Large, maybe Leccinum
Location: Unknown
Web: The Victorian Web

[f] Fairy School

Medium: Engraving; size: 27.5 x 38 cm.
Mushroom description: Fairies dancing around stipitate mushrooms
Location: Unknown

Fitzgerald, John Anster. English. 1819?–1906

The Intruders

Medium: Illustration in watercolors; size: 37 x 29 cm.
Mushroom description: A single Amanita muscaria with fairies and animals
Location: Unknown
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Fortescue-Brickdale, Eleanor. British

The Introduction

Medium: Pencil and watercolors; size: 48.8 x 32.2 cm.
Mushroom description: Two agarics in foreground
Location: Unknown
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Gresley, Harold. British. Derby 1882-1967

The Gnome’s Repast

Medium: Watercolors on paper; size: 35.30 x 27.5 cm.
Mushroom description: Gnomes sitting at an Agaricus table, on Agaricus chairs
Location: Private collection

Heatherly, Thomas. British

[a] Fairy Seated on a Mushroom. ca. 1860

Shape: Oval
Mushroom description: Stylized large mushrooms
Location: Unknown
Web: Wikigallery

[b] Fairies Among Mushrooms

Medium: Oils on canvas; size: 19.7 x 27 cm.
Mushroom description: Fairy reposing on a large blue-green agaric with another agaric showing gills in background
Location: Unknown
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

[c] Fairy Resting on a Mushroom

Medium: Oil on canvas; size: 19.7 x 27 cm.
Mushroom description: Large, flat topped blue-gray mushroom
Location: Private collection
Web: Flickr

Hunt, William Holman. British. 1827–1910

Valentine rescuing Sylvia from Proteus. 1851

Medium: Oils on canvas
Mushroom description: Several capped mushrooms in right foreground
Location: City Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK.
Reference: Betthausen. Die Präraffaeliten. Berlin. 1989.
Web: Olga’s Gallery

Ichuko, Azuma Higashi. Japanese, active 1984.

Goblin. 1984

Note: Added here because of style
Medium: Unknown; size: 44.2 x 32 cm.
Mushroom description: Goblin jumping over stylized capped mushroom
Location: Fairy Art Museum, Tokyo

Jacobs, Helen. British. Ilford, 1888-1970

[a] The Fairy Market

Medium: Pen and ink, watercolors with gouache on paper; size: 21.6 x 30 cm.
Mushroom description: Agaricus scattered on the ground
Location: Private collection
Reference: Bridgeman Library

[b] Title: Elves Mice-racing

Medium: Ink and watercolor on paper; size: 24.8 x 18.6 cm.
Mushroom description: Agarics (Cortinarius?) covering the foreground
Location: Private collection
Web: Online Galleries

James, Laura Gwenllian. British.

Where the Fairies Dance in a Place Apart. 1905

Medium: Oils on panel; size: 29.8 x 22.8 cm.
Mushroom description: Agarics (part of a ring) in a row
Location: Unknown
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Kinnard, Frederick G. British. Worked 1864-81

The Four Seasons. Spring.

Medium: Oil on board; size: 17.7 x 5.2 cm.
Location: Private collection
Mushroom description: Two fairy children under capped mushrooms
Web: Bridgeman Art Gallery

Millais, John Everett. British. 1829-1886

Ferdinand Lured by Ariel. 1849-50

Medium: Oils
Location: Private collection, London
Mushroom description: Tree trunk with Trametes gibbosa and capped mushrooms, right background
Reference: Betthausen. Die Präraffaeliten. Berlin. 1989.

Morgan, Walter Jenks. British. 1847-1924

A Fairy Ring

Medium: Watercolor with white heightening on paper; size: 15.5 x 23 cm.
Location: Unknown
Mushroom description: Fairies sitting and standing on a fairy ring of large, flat capped agarics
Web: The Victorian Web

Paton, Joseph Noel. Scottish. 1821-1901

[a] The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania. 1849

Medium: Oils on canvas
Mushroom description: Several prominent mushrooms
Location: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Web: Emory University

[b] The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania

Medium: Oils on canvas
Mushroom description: Several prominent mushrooms with squamous caps in middle foreground
Location: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Reference: Illustr. C. Woods, Fairies in Victorian Art. 2000. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club
Web: Emory University

[c] Fairy Music or Bonny Kilmeny

Medium: Oils on board; size: 37.5 cm in diameter
Mushroom description: Two agarics in middle background
Location: Unknown
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

[d] Puck and the Fairy

Medium: Oils on card; size: 24.2 x 28 cm.
Mushroom description: Russula with split cap in left foreground
Location: Chris Beetles, Ltd., London
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

[e] The Fairy Raid. Carrying Off a Changeling, Midsummer Eve

Medium: Oils on canvas; size: 90.5 x 146.7 cm.
Location: Glasgow Museums: Art Gallery and Museums, Kelvingrove
Mushroom description: Two possible Russulas in foreground
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Rackham, Arthur. British. 1867-1939

[a] Come, Now a Roundel. 1908

Mushroom description: Mushroom fairy ring with fairies dancing in a circle around it
Location: Unknown

[b] Puck and the Fairy

Medium: Oils on card; size: 24.2 x 28 cm.
Mushroom description: Russula with split cap in left foreground
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua. British. Plympton 1723-London 1792.

Puck. 1789

Medium: Oils
Mushroom description: Forest scene with several cap mushrooms on the ground
Location: Illustration from the The Book of Fairies
Web: Emory University

Spilsbury, Maria. British. 1777-1823

Where Mortal Thing Might Never Breathe

Medium: Watercolor on paper; size: 32.5 x 23.5 cm.
Mushroom description: Fairy under a mature Coprinus comatus, next to an immature one
Location: Fairy Art Museum, Tokyo

Tarrant, Winifred M. British. 1888-1959

A Fairy Band

Medium: Watercolor; size: 49.2 x 61.8 cm.
Mushroom description: A fairy leading a band standing on a ringless Amanita muscaria
Location: Collection of Averil and Barry Miles
Reference: Woods, C. Fairies in Victorian Art. Woodbridge, U.K.: Antique Coll. Club. 2000.

Wilson, George. British. 1848-1890

The Spring Witch. 1883-84

Medium: ?
Mushroom description (by J. M. Toohey): “A group of perhaps six perhaps mushrooms in the lower left-hand corner, next to a stump with assorted foliage about. Lactarius? Short stipes, convex to sunken caps with inrolled margins on some, and gills may be attached, reddish-brown tones, that did not seem typical, artist’s prerogative, I suspect.”
Location: Delaware Art Museum
Reference: Delaware Art Museum. Jeanette M. Toohey, Associate Curator for Collections. 1995