This illustration by Walter Crane depicts a scene from The Frog Prince, one of the stories in Grimms' Fairy Tales that became the motif for the Disney film The Princess and the Frog, featuring Tiana, the first Black Disney princess.
In this scene, the frog asks to enter the princess’s castle, the day after she promised him her friendship after the frog fetched the princess her golden ball after she accidentally dropped it into the fountain where the frog was.
The Aberdeen Art Gallery features Crane’s other illustrations in The Frog Prince, including the scene where the princess and the frog first meet, eating from the princess’s plate, much to her disgust, after the king reminds his daughter to keep her promise. Other scenes in The Frog Prince in the Aberdeen Art Gallery include the scenes where the frog turns into a prince, much to her surprise, after the spell that turned him into a frog broke, and the prince and princess’s wedding.
Walter Crane created illustrations for many other children’s stories and fairy tales, besides his works that appeal more to adult viewers, and The Frog Prince is one of many fairy tales familiar even to modern readers for which he designed illustrations.
The embellished walls and the tiled floor of the castle create a perfect scene for refinery and opulence. The princess, standing at the threshold of the door, with a frown, is dressed up in a shiny yellow fabric that matches the yellow of her hair with the yellow of her sandals. Her whole being seems wrapped in luxury and wealth, while the lowly, petite frog below is all naked green staring at the princess to fulfil her promise. The maids in the corridor are stealthly looking at the duo with curiosity as if trying to gauge the outcome of the encounter between the two. The entire scene is but a contrast between the beautiful, wealthy princess who has it all, but is now at the behest of a lowly, ugly frog, who appears to rule the moment.
