Monday, June 29, 2009

Jenny Wren - Dickens Dolls' Dressmaker

Jenny Wren was a character in Charles Dickens last novel Our Mutual Friend. She is a "dolls' dressmaker, with whom Lizzie lives after her father dies; crippled with a bad back, though not ugly in her deformities; acts very motherly toward her drunken father whom she calls her “bad child”... Her role is a creator and a caretaker, and her “pleasant fancies” of “flowers, bird song, numbers of blessed, white-clad children”" via

This delightful illustration was done by Mary Sherwood Wright Jones (1892-1985). She lived in Licking County, Ohio and "was a noted muralist and illustrator for children's books, including the renowned national publication of Weekly Reader". via
Her distinctive deco style can be seen on other Home Arts covers.

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