Fairy - Fairies in visual arts

A fairy is a spirit (supernatural being) found in the legends, folklore, and mythology of many cultures. They are generally humanoid in form, though of a higher, spiritual nature and so possessed of preternatural abilities, along with such mystical qualities as otherworldly beauty and grace, an ethereal glow, wings, or the like. They are also regarded as aloof, ephemeral, mercurial, and whimsical, among other qualities that place them outside of a human scope and have a tendency to make them associated or confused with other mythologi ...

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• Fairy - Etymology
• Fairy - Nature
• Fairy - Fairies in literature
• Fairy - Fairies in visual arts
• Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture
• Fairy - In Debates

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Artists such as Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Myrea Pettit, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Cicely Mary Barker, Amy Brown and Peg Maltby have all created beautiful illustrations of fairies. Conversely, the Victorian painter Richard Dadd was responsible for some paintings of fairy-folk with an altogether more sinister and malign nature. Another notable Victorian painter of fairies was the artist and illustrator Arthur Rackham. Interest in fairy themed art in Britain enjoyed a brief renaissance following the Cottingley fairies photographs, and a number of artists turned to painting ...

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Fairy, Fairy - Nature, Fairy - Fairies in literature, Fairy - Fairies in visual arts, Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture, Fairy - In Debates

Read more here: » Fairy: Encyclopedia II - Fairy - Fairies in visual arts

The question of a faerie "nature" has been the topic of many a myth or scholarly paper for a very long time. This is partially due to the fact that, by being supernatural and chaotic entities, they are difficult to pin down as being anything in particular and partially due to the fact that humans have yet to answer completely what constitutes the racial ethos of humanity. Consequently, faerie runs amok with creatures that are completely unrelated save that they are mythologic in origin. There is a central archetypal figure behind most of the stories described as a tall, delicate, radiant being of humanoid aspect. Such beings are most ...

See also:

Fairy, Fairy - Nature, Fairy - Fairies in literature, Fairy - Fairies in visual arts, Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture, Fairy - In Debates

Read more here: » Fairy: Encyclopedia II - Fairy - Nature

The words fae and faerie came to English from French and, ultimately, Latin. An interesting correlation is the word "fey," which may be derived ultimately from the same Latin root and is now returning to mean the same as "fae." The Latin root fata, meaning fate in the sense of one of the Parcae, is an indication that fays have abilities associated with knowledge (foresight) and manipulation (luck, blessing, cursing) of fate, both of whic ...

See also:

Fairy, Fairy - Etymology, Fairy - Nature, Fairy - Fairies in literature, Fairy - Fairies in visual arts, Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture, Fairy - In Debates

Read more here: » Fairy: Encyclopedia II - Fairy - Etymology

William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream deals extensively with the subject of fairy-folk and their interaction with a group of amateur theatrical players. This work details the spell cast by the mischievous fairy Puck (at the behest of the fairy-king Oberon) on Oberon's wife Titania, who falls in love with the first mortal she casts eyes upon, the unfortunate Bottom, whom Puck ...

See also:

Fairy, Fairy - Nature, Fairy - Fairies in literature, Fairy - Fairies in visual arts, Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture, Fairy - In Debates

Read more here: » Fairy: Encyclopedia II - Fairy - Fairies in literature