While looking at vintage fairytales on Instagram I was surprised to find a contemporaneous (with Oscar Wilde) portrait of my second favourite Wildean character - The Loveliest of the Queen's Maids-of-Honour! AKA "a beautiful girl..." (My favourite Wildean character is Her Lover, that romantic and passionate young man who says, stargazing with her on the balcony to the sound of dancing: "How wonderful the stars are, and how wonderful is the Power of Love!" -- hands down my favourite Wildean quote and Wildean scene; there's something so satisfying in how these two young characters subvert gender roles!).
Charles Robinson, the illustrator, imagines The Loveliest of the Queen's Maids-of-Honour in a medieval setting, wearing a hennin on her head (while most adaptations, like those of Andersen, prefer Victorian setting contemporary with the author). Her raven hair and ivory skin may echo Snow White, even more so in medieval attire, but her cold sneer reveals the character's callousness and materialism.
