‘She hath a mark, like a violet, between her shoulders, and another like it on the instep of her left foot.’ 1912

Arthur Rackham made this illustration with ink and watercolor, and you can almost feel the scratch of his pen building up the details. The title gives us the story, but what I love is how Rackham gives us the *feeling* of the story— the young woman exposed, vulnerable. The two women looming over her, their faces obscured by shadow and age. It’s a high stakes moment. Look at how he uses line to create patterns on the dresses. And the nervous way the young woman’s hand clutches at her gown! What a beautiful and subtle gesture, drawn with such simple means. You can see how he's thinking about earlier illustrators, like Beardsley, but making it his own with that distinctive line. I imagine him, bent over the paper, carefully building up each mark, until the whole scene comes alive.