(Walt Disney Studios, 1959) Original concept painting by Eyvind Earle for Sleeping Beauty, portraying the shadowy form of sorceress Maleficent inside her castle in the Forbidden Mountains. As is the case with all Earle concept art, the scene is vividly realized and presented with an impressive eye for both scope and detail. Here Earle restricts himself to muted colors of gray and black and softened teal to capture the spacious inner sanctum of Maleficent. To match its foreboding aura, the scene delivers a strong sense of verticality, with the high walls, immense stone sentries, and rising wisps of smoke essentially forcing focus to center and the long black silhouette of the sorceress. Accomplished in gouache on 10 x 5 artist's board, with Earle signing in black paint in the lower right corner. Attractively mounted and framed to an overall size of 18 x 13. In fine condition, with tack holes to corners. 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.
