The Gnomes and Trolls of John Bauer . by Alice B. Clagett

Written and published on 12 May 2022
Location: San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

  • ARE THESE GNOMES?
  • THE HICCUP: IS THIS A TROLL?
  • CONCLUSION

Dear Ones,

Here are some of the nature spirits painted by John Bauer. I like his illustrations very much!  There is a hiccup which I will discuss below. At any rate, here are what seem to me to be quite good representations of gnomes and a changeling …

ARE THESE GNOMES?

Image: The Changeling,” by John Bauer, 1913, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_changeling,_John_Bauer,_1913.jpg … public domain

Image: The Changeling,” by John Bauer, 1913, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_changeling,_John_Bauer,_1913.jpg … public domain

Image: “The Princess and the Trolls,” by John Bauer, 1913, in English Wikimedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Bauer_-_The_Princess_and_the_Trolls_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg … public domain

Image: “The Princess and the Trolls,” by John Bauer, 1913, in English Wikimedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Bauer_-_The_Princess_and_the_Trolls_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg … public domain

Image: “Root Trolls,” by John Bauer, 1917, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rottrollen_-_John_Bauer_1917.jpg … public domain

Image: “Root Trolls,” by John Bauer, 1917, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rottrollen_-_John_Bauer_1917.jpg … public domain

THE HICCUP: IS THIS A TROLL?

From the size and bearing of the nature spirits shown above, it seems to me the John Bauer painted there what I call ‘gnomes’. Yet the painter calls them ‘trolls’.

I do see what I call ‘trolls’ in other paintings produced by John Bauer. These look rather like the nature spirits shown below, but are much larger … which are a good deal taller than a young man would be. Here is one such illustration of what I might call a ‘troll’ …

Image: “Here is a piece of a troll herb which nobody else can find,” by John Farmer, 1912, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%C3%A4r_ska_du_f%C3%A5_en_bit_av_en_troll%C3%B6rt,_som_ingen_mer_%C3%A4n_jag_kan_leta_r%C3%A4tt_p%C3%A5.jpg … public domain … DESCRIPTION: This is an illustration for “The Boy Who Was Never Afraid” by Alfred Smedberg, produced by John Bauer for “Among Gnomes and Trolls.”

Image: “Here is a piece of a troll herb which nobody else can find,” by John Farmer, 1912, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%C3%A4r_ska_du_f%C3%A5_en_bit_av_en_troll%C3%B6rt,_som_ingen_mer_%C3%A4n_jag_kan_leta_r%C3%A4tt_p%C3%A5.jpg … public domain … DESCRIPTION: This is an illustration for “The Boy Who Was Never Afraid” by Alfred Smedberg, produced by John Bauer for “Among Gnomes and Trolls.”

CONCLUSION

From this I gather it may be that there is a relationship between gnomes and trolls, much in the way there is a relationship between the Lesser Dwarves and the Greater Dwarves.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

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nature spirits, gnomes, trolls, dwarves, Lesser Dwarves, Greater Dwarves, changelings,

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