"Love's Web" Lot no. 707
By Theo Hampe (1877 - 1965)
11.78" x 8.00"
Watercolor on Paper
Signed Lower Right
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"The Spider and The Fly" By Theodore Hampe
Hampe, Theodore Michael. "The Spider and the Fly" (illustration). No place, circa 1905.
Watercolor and ink on illustration board, measuring 11.5 x 8 inches, sight size, on sheet measuring 14 x 8.5 inches. Signed T. Hampe" in lower right image and titled in pencil on verso. Tipped to mat measuring 18.5 x 14.5 inches. A few measurement indications in lower margin.
Original illustration by California artist Theodore Hampe (1877-1965) for an unidentified publication of Mary Howitt's 1829 poem "The Spider and the Fly." Hampe's fetching male arachnid luring a female fly into his web illustrates Howitt's opening line: "Will you walk into my parlour?" That famous line, often misquoted as "come (or step) into my parlour," remains a widely recognized aphorism for false overtures of friendship. So well-known was Howitt's cautionary tale that Lewis Carroll parodied it in his "Mock Turtle's Song" in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The expressions of the two figures and exquisite details of their costumes exemplify Hampe's deft hand at small brush technique and mastery of color and shading. The fly perches on the bottommost line of the web, which leads the viewer's eye back to the seductive host at its epicenter, completing a visually satisfying composition. A splendidly detailed and preserved illustration. (Source: Honey & Wax Booksellers)
Explore related art collections: Romance / Fairy Tale / Men / Women as Subjects / $100 - $5,000
See all original artwork by Theo Hampe
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Painter. Born in Pennsylvania on July 18, 1877. Hampe moved to San Francisco about 1890. With his wife Mathilde, he settled in Los Angeles in 1915. For 40 years he worked there as a salesman at Barker Brothers. He died in Pomona, CA on July 1, 1965.