‘Knave of hearts’: A brilliant book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish

Double page spread of an illustration showing a man dressed in a tunic and flowing dark blue robe looking at a woman wearing a light purple robe over a flowing dress. The woman looks downward pensively at a flower in her hands. The figures stand in a breezeway with towering columns, beyond which a sweeping landscape of garden grounds overlooks castle structures built into the sides of massive mountains. Trees and a roaring river spill down the mountains. — The Knave of Hearts watches from afar as the Lady Violetta looks pensively at a flower.

The Knave of Hearts is a one-act play written by Louise Saunders and illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. This was the last children’s book that Parrish illustrated, and he worked on the paintings for about three years before it was completed. The pictures have all the signature hallmarks of his style, including luminous color palettes, sprawling landscapes, and idealized figures painted in a classical style. The stylizations and postures of these figures fit perfectly with the alternating rigidity, flexibility, fiery temperament, and melodrama exhibited by the characters.

Black and white illustration of a drawing that shows the King and Queen of hearts, identified by the hearts that appear on crowns and the architecture and seal behind them, seated on a platform above a table with tarts spread before anthropomorphic birds dressed in judge’s robes. The Knave stands at the front of the frame and the queen above scowls down at the scene. The White Rabbit character stands on the platform next to the king and reads from a paper. — Illustration of the Knave of Hearts on trial created by Sir John Tenniel for the 1865 publication of Lewis Carroll’s *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland*.

The title character is pulled from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but in this telling, the Knave is a more complex figure. Like in Wonderland, the Knave is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts, but in this story, his motivations are both selfish and generous, and the “theft” is more of a composed plan.

The world within which the events unfold, like in Wonderland, lacks sound logic, though it clings tightly to traditions to justify a system that makes little sense in a modern world. In this story, the Lady Violetta must create delectable tarts to ascend to the throne; the alternative is banishment. Pompdebile, the King, prodded by his constitution-toting Chancellor, addresses the court, “Lords and ladies of the court, this is an important moment in the history of our reign. The Lady Violetta, whom you love and respect—that is, I mean to say, whom the ladies love and the lords—er—respect, is about to prove whether or not she be fitted to hold the exalted position of Queen of Hearts, according to the law, made a thousand years ago by Pompdebile the Great, and steadily followed ever since.”

The King, holding a golden sphere and a scepter and wearing a purple cloak and waist sash, gold crown, and purple and yellow checkered robe walks through an archway in the center of the illustration. Two women attired in short black and white dresses glance at one another as they walk behind him. The archway is flanked by guards holding trumpets vertically upright and wearing purple waist sashes and black and white striped sleeves. — The King enters the room where Violetta’s test will take place.

A gray-bearded man wearing a black and white checkered scholars’ robe, black hat, and glasses leans forward knocking on the door of a building in a courtyard while clutching a book in his other hand. Another man stands behind him waiting expectantly. The second figure is wearing a long, flowing purple cloak over a purple and yellow robe and a golden crown or hat. He leans slightly backward at the waist and crosses his hands at the top of his stomach, with a look of slight concern on his face. — The Chancellor and King at the door, waiting to sample Lady Violetta’s tarts.

There is a moment when the Knave suggests that perhaps the law could be changed, which the King is more than willing to contemplate, but the Chancellor is right there to insist that society must cling to its traditions. The King quickly dismisses the idea, with little care that his future queen’s fate will be decided in such an absurd and unfair manner. Later, Violetta and the Knave muse that the pastry ritual is likely based on the idea that a well-fed society is happier, thus the way to a heart is through the stomach.

Violetta, for her part, is terrified of failure. She knows she cannot cook. But she is not an entirely sympathetic character either. She admits to being proud of her vanity, a quality that she insists makes her perfect for the role of a monarch. She also tells the Knave how she has fantasized about successfully completing the pastry challenge, after which tradition will have her riding a flower-adorned palfrey through the streets in front of an adoring public. She has, in fact, practiced riding the decorated horse for days, but she has not spent any time learning to bake. Her work ethic and priorities are not in sync with the realities of her situation.

A blond woman attired in a long flowing dress and fabric waist tie kneels in front of an open oven door with smoke rising from it. A man wearing a brown tunic with a blue robe stands next to her with a hand on one hip and a puzzled expression as he looks down at the contents of the oven. — The Knave of Hearts checks the oven with Lady Violetta to see the burned remains of the tarts she has baked.

The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts
All on a Summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts
He stole those tarts
And took them quite away.

The King of Hearts
Called for those tarts
And beat the Knave full sore.
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts
And vowed he’d sin no more.
—from The Knave of Hearts by Louise Saunders, 1925

The Knave suggests a plan—his wife is a wonderful baker and is making raspberry tarts that day. He will sneak in with the good tarts and dispose of the ruined tarts that Violetta has baked; the pastry chefs will be delighted, and Violetta will win her new role. He does not want to be elevated in station for his efforts but rather wants to be freed of any higher social status. He simply wants to enjoy simplicity and a life filled with fewer responsibilities.

A pastry chef bends forward in an exaggerated gesture as he holds a tray of tarts in front of the Chancellor and the King. The Chancellor looks down at the tarts with a hand over his mouth as he clutches his law book in his other hand. The King, seated on a throne mostly obscured by the Chancellor’s position at his side, holds up a tart that he has lifted from the tray. — The King and Chancellor inspect the tarts after they are presented by the two pastry chefs who have proclaimed them to be works of art.

Illustration of a man wearing a dark blue cloak and holding a brown leather bag while entering the space over the top of a stone wall. The background shows a castle and city set into the mountains in the distance. — The prominent blue used throughout the illustrations, especially in the sky and the Knave’s cloak, is a color named for Parrish because of his frequent use. He created the deep, rich hue using a white ground covered with layers upon layers of glazes.

The Knave departs, but the missing tarts are discovered before he returns. Amidst the chaos, he is found under a tree eating one of his wife’s tarts. The Chancellor insists the punishment should be beheading; the King agrees. Violetta, however, duplicitously convinces the ruler that it would be a worse fate to let the Knave of Hearts live, instead stripping him of his role in society. In this way, they both use deception and cunning to achieve their respective goals. It’s underhanded, but it’s also smart—and perhaps the only way they can survive in a system that is built on an unjust set of rules and norms.

The Knave of Hearts is a recent acquisition that can be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room on the sixth floor of Milner Library.

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