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NZ Strider
Rivendell
Mar 13 2007, 11:27pm
Views: 1735
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JRRT Artist and Illustrator: Chap. 3: #3: The Mountains of the Moon
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Can't Post
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When Tolkien’s son Michael lost his little toy dog at the beach, Tolkien composed a story, “Roverandom,” to console Michael for the loss. Tolkien eventually provided five illustrations for “Roverandom.” Here are two: (;any, many thanks to those who’ve helped me with links to Tolkien’s illustrations; I confess freely that I’m technologically inept. Also, I’m just putting the pictures into my post -- if people would prefer that I just gave links, let me know. I’m not quite sure exactly what I am doing...)
First this one:
and then this one:
Both of these are lunar landscapes, for Roverandom in one of his adventures travels to the moon; with them probably belongs another, earlier drawing of a lunar landscape:
(N.b. the Earth on the horizon, with the Americas visible.)
In the earlier drawing the moon is depicted as settled: There are meadows and trees alongside of a river which runs through a valley between two mountain ranges. Although no village appears in the drawing, the trees appear to be purposefully planted (at least to me: disagreement?). In fact, were it not for the Earth on the horizon nothing would mark this as a “moonscape.” At best it would be a fantastic landscape -- of the sort which Hercules Seghers used to paint:
Q.#1: What do you think of Tolkien's first moonscape? Would it be more appropriate to depict the moon “realistically” -- i.e. as grey and barren? Or is it more appropriate in “fantasy” to imagine a strange, yet ultimately habitable surface -- much as Lewis did for, e.g., Venus = Perelandra?
Q.#2: Tolkien often drew such a valley -- Rivendell is perhaps the best known:
Anyone care to speculate on why Tolkien kept experimenting with this type of scene till he found just the right context for it?
Now to the two illustraions for “Roverandom.” In the first we see a wizard gazing through a telescope from behind a parapet of a high tower. Towards him flies Roverandom on a bird’s back.
Q.#3: How many connexions with the rest of Tolkien’s works can you spot? (My go: White Tower ≈ Minas Tirith; wizard has long beard and pointy hat ≈ Gandalf; wizard on tower ≈ Saruman; figure gazing into distance from tower ≈ Denethor; figure carried by bird ≈ Gandalf borne by eagle.)
In the second illustration for “Roverandom” we see a dragon flying round a high mountain and chasing Roverandom and the Moondog. In the lower right, just above the title is a giant spider.
Q,#4: Again, how many connexions to Tolkien’s later works can you spot? (My go: dragon ≈ Smaug; spider ≈ giant spiders of Mirkwood; mountain ≈ Lonely Mountain.)
Q.#5: Did Tolkien, ultimately, have a certain number of striking images in his mind which he spent his artistic life sorting out and placing into the right context?
Tolkien, by the way, used (according to Hammond & Scull) this illustration in a lecture he held for children on New Year’s Day 1938. The lecture was, apparently, a curious mixture of fantasy and scholarship, such as one migh expect from Tolkien: amongst many quaint remarks on dragons came e.g. references to Saxo Grammaticus’ *Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes).* However, Tolkien’s drawings of dragons (and hence his own stories) entered into the lecture also. To me, at least, it’s just one more example of how Tolkien the creative artist and Tolkien the scholar interacted.
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JRRT Artist and Illustrator: Chap. 3: #3: The Mountains of the Moon
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NZ Strider
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Mar 13 2007, 11:27pm
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About those moonscapes...
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Elizabeth
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Mar 14 2007, 4:43am
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Not sure about the Grimms...
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NZ Strider
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Mar 14 2007, 8:02am
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It's an entirely different perspective
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dernwyn
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Mar 16 2007, 2:13am
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The lunar landscapes
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drogo
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Mar 14 2007, 11:43am
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you'll find some
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Daughter of Nienna
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Mar 14 2007, 6:25pm
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painting of Glaurung
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Wynnie
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Mar 15 2007, 4:43pm
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Eeek! Technological ineptitude strikes again!
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NZ Strider
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Mar 14 2007, 7:53am
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Two more connections
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Morwen
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Mar 14 2007, 2:31pm
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Perhaps Tolkien knew his limitations as an artist
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Curious
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Mar 14 2007, 2:07pm
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Repetition
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drogo
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Mar 14 2007, 2:24pm
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The snapshot and the postcard
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Curious
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Mar 14 2007, 5:36pm
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Interesting about the effect
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Daughter of Nienna
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Mar 14 2007, 6:16pm
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"Every child is an artist.
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Curious
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Mar 14 2007, 6:38pm
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I like that, thanks /
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Daughter of Nienna
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Mar 14 2007, 8:11pm
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I prefer the fantastical
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Daughter of Nienna
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Mar 14 2007, 8:10pm
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My vision of the moon is too colored
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Beren IV
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Mar 16 2007, 11:37pm
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