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(Walt Disney Studios, 1959) Brilliant original concept painting by Eyvind Earle for Sleeping Beauty, which depicts Maleficent paying a visit to Prince Phillip, who is held prisoner in her dungeon castle. Unlike most other Earle concept pieces, which emphasize scenery and mood, this example places the two characters in central focus, portraying both Maleficent and the prince with vivid detail: Phillip sits wearily on his stone bench, youthful and small, his eyes struggling to adjust to the crypt suddenly illuminated by the witch’s lantern, whereas Maleficent is shown as a mighty creature, tall and looming and in her darkened element, her eyes large and arms outstretched, her mouth wide and tendering taunts and lies to the prince’s ears. The dungeon, with its grimy stone walls and floors and wisps of rising foreground steam, yields a palpable sense of gloom and doom, a feeling manifested by Earle’s expert balance of darkened hues. Accomplished in gouache on 14.5 x 6.25 artist's board, signed in the lower right corner in pink paint by Eyvind Earle. In fine condition, with tack holes to the corners.
Legendary Disney artist Eyvind Earle was Sleeping Beauty's production designer, and Disney gave him a significant amount of freedom in designing the settings and selecting colors for the film. Earle also painted the majority of the backgrounds himself, and his stylistic influence is readily apparent in the final product. His talents are most evident in this design from the film's climactic conclusion, one of the studio's most ambitious sequences ever conceived.
