The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Song of Sixpence
This illustration is from Walter Crane’s retelling of Madame d'Aulnoy’s fairy tale Princess Belle-Etoile (“Beautiful Star”) and one of his many toy books, for which he is known.
Princess Belle-Etoile is about a queen with three daughters: Roussette (“redhead”), the oldest, Brunette, the middle, and Blondine, the youngest. Because the queen was in poverty, despite her status, she sold sauces for a living. One day, a fairy disguised as an old woman begged the queen and her daughters to feed her a fine meal. In exchange for their hospitality, the fairy promised the queen and her daughters that their wish would come true, if they had one without thinking of her. One day, when the king came by, Roussette said that she would make sails for the king’s admiral’s ships if she married him, Brunette said that she would make the king’s brother enough lace to fill a castle if she married him, and Blondine said that she would bear the king two sons and a daughter with golden chains around their necks, stars on their foreheads, and jewels falling from their hair, if she married him.
All three marriages took place, and the fairy provided food on golden dishes for the wedding feast. When the jealous Roussette hid the golden dishes, they turned into earthenware. Combined with Roussette’s jealousy and the king’s mother’s fury upon hearing that her sons married “lowly” women, Brunette died after giving birth to her son. While Blondine gave birth to two sons and a daughter, Roussette and the queen replaced the three babies with three puppies, before bringing them and Brunette’s son to a maid, ordering her to kill them, but put them in a boat with their necklaces that might pay for their support upon discovery. The fairies guided the boat with the four babies, until they were discovered by the Middle Eastern-looking corsair that Crane depicted in his illustration.
The painting depicting the children of Queen bloodline and her sister Brunette being rescued or captured by a Cosair serves as a dramatic visual narrative rooted in classic French fairy tales. This scene is typically charged with high stakes, emotional contrast and dynamic movement.
The composition often centres on the innocent, fair skinned royal children. Their radiant and fragile appearance stands in the stark contrast to the rugged, weather beaten aesthetics of the Cosairs.
Artists used a style called chiaroscuro which referes to strong contrasts between dark and light, to brighten the drama. The turbulent churning sea and darkened skies mirror the chaotic upheaval of the children's lives, shifting from royal comfort to captivity.
The Cosairs ship acts as a liminal space - a floating stage between the known world of courtly intrigue and the vast unpredictable ocean of fate. The rough hands of the pirates grasping the delicate children symbolise the intrusion of harsh reality into a sheltered realm.
The painting aims to capture a pivotal moment of transition. It is an allegory for vulnerability, the turning wheel of fortune and the classic folkloric theme of innocent youth cast adrift into the dangers of the wider world.
