If Virginia Frances Sterrett‘s life was like a fairy tale, it was one of those sad ones where the heroine turned to seafoam or died in the cold, or was otherwise written by Hans Christian Andersen, and you wondered why anybody wanted to read it at all, except the grownups seemed to find it inspiring or something. Sterrett was born in 1900, and as a mere teenager she was given a full scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago based on her work alone. At the age of 19, however, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and after a twelve year battle with the disease, died. Within that time, however, she complete the illustrations for three books, including an adaptation of The Arabian Nights. Here are six illustrations from her first commissioned work, Old French Fairy Tales.
You can see more of Sterrett’s art at Flavorwire.
