“I thought you might care to see it” [SIGN]
From Hugo Baskerville’s portrait to the neighborhood of the Priory School, maps and drawings of all sorts were of great help to Sherlock Holmes. And they were just as important to Watson’s publishers.
The Strand Magazine impractically wanted an illustration on every page. While Sidney Paget established Holmes’s look in the United Kingdom, dozens of American artists pictured him in wildly different ways before Frederic Dorr Steele picked up his pencil.
A popular illustrator, Steele was the natural choice to create the iconic American image of Sherlock Holmes when the stories in The Return appeared in Collier’s Magazine in 1903.
William Gillette’s play had been a triumph in 1899, and while the actor never modeled for Steele, he was his inspiration. Steele captured Holmes’s charisma, his presence, his confidence, and he created the portrait that's inspired every drawing, movie, and cartoon that followed.
You can find out more about Steele and see some of his work at fdsteele.org, the website of the Frederic Dorr Steele Memorial.
But now, let's see if young Freddy is breaking any crayons at Baker Street Elementary...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at the Baker Street Elementary website.
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