"Henry and the Genius of the Mountain "

— Our Virginia Sterret Series Plate #3 

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

This is the most purely epic illustration in the collection — a child alone against something enormous.

Henry is seven years old. His mother is dying. No doctor, no money, no one to help. A fairy tells him the only cure is the Plant of Life, which grows at the summit of a mountain so dangerous that no one who has attempted it has ever reached the top. The mountain is surrounded by a rushing torrent, high walls, and insurmountable precipices. Henry puts bread in his pocket and starts climbing.

To pass each obstacle on the mountain, Henry must prove himself to a succession of supernatural guardians — a wolf, a giant, a crow, a cock, an old man — before reaching the final gate: an enormous Cat, the genius of the mountain, who mews so horribly that Henry is nearly deafened by the sound.

This is that moment. Henry in his red costume, tiny against the impossible scale of the mountain's rock face, staring upward at the massive clawed creature that looms from the upper right — pale green, predatory, talons extended, two glinting eyes looking down. The dotted purple foliage cascading down the left side of the composition. The scattered strange objects on the ground behind Henry — a beaded strand, small spheres — gifts and tools left by the guardians he's already passed.

He doesn't run. He looks up and says: "I do not doubt your power, but you will not harm me when you know I am seeking the Plant of Life to save my poor mother who is dying."

Ségur wrote this story to teach children about courage and filial love. Sterrett drew it to show what it looks like to stand small before something enormous and refuse to be afraid.

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

🎁 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