Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, also known as Ida Sherbourne Rentoul and Ida Sherbourne Outhwaite (9 June 1888 – 25 June 1960), was an Australian illustrator of children’s books. Her work mostly depicted fairies.
Outhwaite’s first illustration was published by New Idea magazine in 1904 when she was just 15 years of age – it accompanied a story written by her older sister, Anne Rattray Rentoul. In the years that followed, the sisters collaborated on a number of stories. Following her marriage to Grenbry Outhwaite in 1909, she also collaborated with her husband – most notably for The Enchanted Forest (1921), The Little Fairy Sister (1923) and Fairyland (1926). In a number of cases, her children – Robert, Anne, Wendy and William – served as models for her illustrations. She inspired a number of artists including Edith Alsop, Ethel Spowers and Ethel Jackson Morris. Reference: Wikipedia
OUTHWAITE (IDA RENTOUL) Fine original watercolour depicting a young fairy dancing exuberantly with a fairy frog (wearing a garland of flowers) in a moonlit field, flowers in the foreground, pen, ink and watercolour, signed lower left “I.R.O”, mounted, framed and glazed, image 191 x 153mm., [1920s] FOOTNOTES A fine watercolour, seemingly not published, depicting one of Outhwaite’s most popular subjects – the fairy girl with frog. The most celebrated Australian artist from the “Golden Age” of children’s illustrators, Outhwaite’s delicate work is “always about children and fairies… kookaburras, playful rabbits, lizards and frogs took the place of princesses and serving wenches…magic encounters in the familiar Australian sunshine'” (Marcie Muir & Robert Holden, The Fairy World of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, London, 1986).
Sold for £ 4,375 inc. premium at Bonhams in 2018
IDA RENTOUL SHERBORNE OUTHWAITE (1888-1960) The Acrobats signed with initials ‘I R O’ (lower left) watercolour 41.1 x 33.5 cm
Sold for AUD 15,535 at Christies in 2005
Outhwaite (Ida Rentoul & Grenby) – The Enchanted number 380 of a deluxe edition limited to 500 copies , tipped-in colour frontispiece and 15 plates, 15 black and white plates, illustrations, 1f. publisher’s catalogue at end, presentation inscription to front free endpaper, pictorial endpapers, scattered spotting throughout (none to plates), endpapers browned, original pictorial cloth, gilt, a little rubbed with some wear to spine, 4to , 1921
Sold for £500 at Bloomsbury Auctions in 2016
![Outhwaite, Ida FAIRYLAND... VERSES [AND] STORIES BY GRENBRY OUTHWAITE AND ANNIE R. RENTOUL. NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO., 1929](https://thejurassicfairy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ida-outhwaite-fairyland.jpg)
Outhwaite, Ida FAIRYLAND… VERSES [AND] STORIES BY GRENBRY OUTHWAITE AND ANNIE R. RENTOUL. NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO., 1929 folio, 19 coloured plates, numerous black and white illustrations, including 32 full-page, original red cloth gilt with coloured illustration on upper cover, PICTORIAL DUST-JACKET, ORIGNAL BOX with coloured illustration on lid and label “Fairyland” at end, jacket price-clipped, some repairs to box
Sold for 2,125 GBP at Sothebys in 2017
