The Sleeping Princess by Frances Macdonald (1873-1921).
This pastel and watercolour illustration shows a sleeping girl in a dress of purple and gold with long black hair. The original has a metal frame (not shown here) which is inscribed with the words "Love if thy tresses be so dark, how dark those hidden eyes must be."
The illustration was created for the July 1896 issue of the controversial art and literary magazine The Yellow Book: An Illustrated Quarterly. The magazine (which was published in London from 1894 until 1897) became famous for championing what is now considered a fin de siecle style associated with art nouveau, but gained notoriety in the 1890s for publishing the works of Aubrey Beardsley and other "decadent" writers and illustrators.
Reference: PR.1977.13.u
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
art nouveau, artists, fashions, illustrators, princesses, The Sleeping Princess, watercolours, women, Yellow Book