Legendary illustrations

A heavily outlined pencil drawing on a tiny scrap of paper by the five-year-old Arthur Rackham demonstrates the precocity of the celebrated illustrator's draughtsmanship. This diligently observed and delightfully comic illustration is of the juvenile Rackham's grandfather and is among the few personal items on display in this small, but highly enjoyable, exhibition offering an overview of the artist's career.

Rackham trained alongside Aubrey Beardsley and the influence of Art Nouveau is everywhere: in the sinewy tendrils of plant life as well as the diaphanous gowns and streaming hair of his fairies.

A great admirer of the Northern European Renaissance and the German graphic tradition, the artist's grotesques can be placed as part of that lineage; his mischievous goblins and elves perfect for illustrating the native folk tales of the Brothers Grimm.

The exhibition and accompanying catalogue is at pains to point out that Rackham should be acknowledged as more than an accomplished children's illustrator. To this end, it includes numerous watercolour landscapes and sketches of his beloved younger sister, Winifred.

Rackham himself wanted to be viewed as a serious artist but was constrained in this ambition by an innate conservatism, both in style and temperament. However, though these rarely seen examples of his 'serious' output remain unremarkable, it is hard not to be spellbound by his meticulously rendered world of fantastical creatures.