Terms and conditions of use
Little Red Riding Hood
(c. 1862)
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mrs S. Horne, 1962
- Gallery location
- 19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This painting is a more detailed rendition of one of the designs made by the great French illustrator Gustave Doré for the fairy tales of Charles Perrault (1628–1703), which were reprinted in Paris in 1862. Here Doré has illustrated Perrault’s original Little Red Riding Hood of 1697 – rather than the later, sanitized versions, mainly for British audiences, and depicts the story’s penultimate moment, just before the triumphant, and satiated, wolf bites off Little Red Riding Hood’s head. Terror was often a key component in fairy tales which also had a moralizing element or subtext. Romantic artists were drawn to these darker aspects of tales written for children.
Artwork Details
Gift of Mrs S. Horne, 1962
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Level 2, NGV International