Felix Lorioux was a well known illustrator in his native France, but not as recognized here in the U.S. His fantasy filled, colorful, Art Nouveau inspired illustrations are an excellent match for the storybook subjects he took on.

They were not a good match, however, for Disney’s Mickey Mouse. His attempt to handle the French adaptations of Silly Symphonies were too stylized for Disney’s liking.

Lorioux is best known for his illustrations for children’s books by Charles Perrault. Perrault was a French author who, in the late 17th Century, took folk tales and codified them into the literary form we know today as fairy tales. His tellings of the stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, for example, are pretty much the ones we recognize today, not in the least because they were adapted by Disney for their film versions.

A 1927 edition of Perrault’s book Contes de Perrault (Tales of Perrault) contains Cinderella, Le Petit Pouchet (Tom Thumb) and Puss-in-Boots (images at left) illustrated by Lorioux. There is a complete scanned version of the French printing of that book available on the German site Digitale Bibliothek.

Links via BibliOdyssey (illustrated article)

Over the years, great illustrators have created and shaped the popular vision of Santa Claus. Clockwise from top, left:

Thomas Nast, who gave Santa Claus a form almost like the modern idea in the mid-1800’s, with his clay pipe and arm full of toys (including a sword). You can see some of his visions of Santa here.

J. C. Leyendecker, who really created the modern vision of Santa [correction, see addendum below], and painted a number of memorable Saturday Evening Post covers featuring the jolly elf over the years. You can find them in the SEP cover archive.

Norman Rockwell, along with Leyendecker, provided numerous SEP covers with images of Santa, often with clever takes on the vision of his traditional role. The SEP cover archive has a section devoted to Rockwell Christmas covers.

Haddon Sundblom was an American illustrator who became noted for his yearly portrayals of Santa Claus for the Coca-Cola company. There is a section on the Coca-Cola site, and an album of Sundblom Santas here.

Addendum: I stand corrected. Stephen Worth of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive was kind enough to share with us illustrations from 1906 St. Nicholas Illustrated Magazine that show that illustrator Reginald Birch was in fact the one to flesh out Nast’s Civil War St. Nicholas concept into the the red-suited version we know today, prior to Leyendecker.

The Archive has posted a number of wonderful Birch illustrations from St. Nicholas Illustrated Magazine.

(Any fans of classic illustration and animation who are not familiar with ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive should click over there immediately and prepare to be amazed and delighted.)