Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock. The Little Lame Prince. Illustrated by Etheldred B. Barry, D.C. Heath & Co., 1910, p. 138. Internet Archive, archive.org/details/littlelameprince00crai/page/138/mode/2up.
This illustration evokes a supernatural, almost UFO-like quality surrounding Prince Dolor, emphasizing both his distance from the masses and his divine elevation above them. It underscores the hierarchical gap between what a king is traditionally meant to represent and how the child, in many ways, redefines masculinity by embodying a spiritual presence that transcends conventional power. The child rises physically above his imagined role as a knight and symbolically beyond the limits of traditional masculinity. The framing of the image—from the perspective of onlookers gazing upward—positions the viewer alongside the crowd, reinforcing the awe and reverence the figure inspires. In doing so, the illustration suggests that Prince Dolor’s authority and masculinity are no longer grounded in strength or dominance but in a higher, spiritual form of leadership rooted in empathy, imagination, and moral clarity.