The white snake 1920

Arthur Rackham made this illustration, 'The White Snake', with pen and ink, and watercolor. There's a great sense of freedom in the linework, how the ink spills and flows into shapes and textures, especially in the undergrowth. Look at the way he mixes cool greens with warmer browns. You sense a kind of aliveness, and the sense of artmaking as a process. There's a real tension between the way the figure is rendered with delicate, thin lines and the way the foliage is built up with layers of washes. See how he uses the white of the page to create highlights, giving the impression of light filtering through the trees? The way the figure almost blends into the background creates a slightly unsettling effect. Rackham's illustrations are so distinctive, aren't they? You might see echoes of Aubrey Beardsley's in his work, but with a touch more whimsy and humor. And in the end, it's that ambiguity, that sense of things not being quite what they seem, that makes this piece so compelling.