"They Were Three Months Passing Through the Forest"

— Our Virginia Sterret Series Plate #1 

Virginia Frances Sterrett was 19 years old when she drew this. Not 19 and trained at a prestigious atelier. Nineteen, sick with tuberculosis already, working on her first professional commission for Penn Publishing. The illustration came out in 1920. She died ten years later, at 30, with only four books to her name. The work outlasted her by a century.

📖 The Story Behind This Piece

Blondine, from the Comtesse de Ségur's "Old French Fairy Tales," does not ride a horse through the forest. She rides a giant tortoise, and the crossing takes three months. Sterrett honored the absurdity completely. In the 1920 Penn Publishing edition, Blondine sits in serene composure on the tortoise's back, surrounded by dense, decorative foliage rendered in Sterrett's signature Art Nouveau line work — organic curves layered over organic curves until the forest feels less like a place and more like a pattern that breathes.

Sterrett belonged to the Golden Age of Illustration, a generation of artists who believed commercial work and fine art weren't different categories. That conviction is visible in every line here. She wasn't simplifying for a children's book audience. She was drawing exactly as intricately as she wanted to, on a deadline, while managing a chronic illness she'd carry for the rest of her short life. The restraint in Blondine's posture against the riot of the surrounding forest wasn't a stylistic accident.

During assembly, the forest is the problem. The foliage fills most of the image with dozens of near-identical green-gold sections where the only guide is the precise weight of a line, the slight curve of a leaf edge. UV printing directly onto the MDF captures those lines without the softening that paper laminate introduces. At the 500-piece scale, a single pressed piece reveals whether it's bark or vine. A digital reproduction flattens that. The wood surface holds it.

This illustration is part of the Virginia Frances Sterrett Old French Fairy Tales Collection.

See all four →

• PLATE#2 Violette in the Forest 
  
• PLATE#3 Henry and the Genius of the Mountain 
• PLATE #4 Blondine & the White Deer

🎁 Who Gets One of These

A few specific people come to mind immediately.

✔️ The Art Nouveau collector who owns Mucha prints — Sterrett worked in the same organic tradition, but her source material was narrative. Blondine in the forest sits closer to Klimt's landscapes than to a poster. You probably don't own anything like it.
✔️ The person who grew up on fairy tales and still takes them seriously — Not as nostalgia. As a legitimate literary form. Ségur's "Old French Fairy Tales" is nearly forgotten now, and Sterrett's illustrations are the best argument for reviving it.
✔️ The Golden Age of Illustration enthusiast — If you know Rackham and Dulac already, Sterrett is the name your shelf is missing. She made four books. All of them matter.
✔️ The gift-giver who wants something with a story attached — Not a decorative object with a vague backstory. A first commission, a 19-year-old artist, a giant tortoise, a publishing house, 1920. The story is specific enough to actually tell.
✔️ The puzzle buyer who has finished cardboard and wants something to keep — The wooden box and the MDF board mean this doesn't get thrown away when it's done. It goes somewhere in the house.

🧩 Puzzle Specifications

✔️ Precision laser-cut wooden pieces
✔️ 3mm MDF core — rigid, warp-resistant, built to last
✔️ UV printing directly on wood — no paper laminate, no peeling
✔️ Traditional grid-cut design
✔️ Sizes: 15"x23", 18"x24", 23"x31"
✔️ Piece counts: 300–1000
✔️ Handcrafted wooden keepsake box included
✔️ Made to order — ships in 3–4 weeks