Lot 102: Kay Nielsen (Danish, 1886-1957)

Kay Nielsen (Danish, 1886-1957)
A huntsman vanquishes the seven-headed dragon
signed 'Kay.Nielsen.' (upper left) and inscribed 'Two brothers/The Two Brothers, Grimm/Then the dragon made a dart at the hunter, but he swung/his sword round & cut off three of the beast's heads' (on the reverse)
pencil, pen and black ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour, gold and silver, unframed
15 x 10 5/8 in. (38.2 x 27 cm.)

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hansel and Gretel and Other stories by the Brothers Grimm, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1925, pl.12.

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 19 February 1965, lot 24.

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Kay Nielsen was born in Copenhagen but studied art in Paris before moving to England in around 1911 and then later to America. He was commissioned to produce illustrations for a number of well known fairy tales including Fairy Tales by Hans Anderson [1924] and Hansel and Gretel, and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm [1925]. The present work is taken from the latter volume and depicts a scene from the tale of The Two Brothers. Here a hunstman slays a seven-headed dragon by cutting off each of his heads with a magical sword before rescuing a princess who has been offered as a sacrifice to the beast. Nielsen produced twelve colour plates for this collection of fairy tales, each demonstrates his skill as a colourist and his ability to interpret well known stories in a decorative and and inventive manner.