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Comparing the pen and ink illustration for page 116 with an alternative version for the same page provides an interesting view of the artist's handling of the same image using different media. In the color sketch, the artist relies on location and pattern of color areas, rather than sweeping lines, to carry our attention from place to place on the page.

The emotional impact of the color study is more visceral, less witty and abstract than Duvoisin's black and white illustration. There is no corresponding alternative version of page 117 in the collection, and we do not know why this double-page spread was not one of those relatively few chosen to be illustrated in color.

Duvoisin carefully ruled double lines and hand printed the complete texts for the rhymes on the color version of page 116, approximately the correct height of the chosen font. It does not appear that this painting ever had text pasted to it. On the other hand, text was pasted in the appropriate spaces to the ink drawing for page 116. Some of this text has fallen off or become loose, allowing us to observe that only initial fragments of the text have been hand-written in small script in the appropriate spaces, with no attempt to approximate the space required by the printed text. Since the space occupied by the drawings, though not the medium, is the same in both versions of the illustration, it appears that Duvoisin probably made the color sketch first, and then for some reason decided to make an ink drawing for this double-page spread. The thorough preparation of the color sketch would allow him to simply estimate the space needed for text on his ink drawing.

Some critics have commented that the text and images appear overly crowded on some pages. Given the artist's lifelong interest in page design, it is interesting to observe that the penciled text on the color sketch is at least as large as the printed text on the finished illustration, and that the artist clearly anticipated that the text would float over his illustration.

Mother Goose: A Comprehensive Collection of the Rhymes. Edited by William Rose Benét. New York: The Heritage Press, 1936

Color study for "There was an Old Woman" Gouache, ink, and graphite on paper 12 7/8 x 9 5/8 inches Gift of Louise Fatio Duvoisin 1989.0027.002		Illustration for "There Was an Old Woman" Page 116 Ink, gouache, graphite, and collage on paper adhered to paperboard 13 x 10 inches Gift of Louise Fatio Duvoisin 1986.1191.037

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