From chapter 3 of The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald:

"She was dressed in black velvet with thick white heavy-looking lace about it; and on the black dress her hair shone like silver. There was hardly any more furniture in the room than there might have been in that of the poorest old woman who made her bread by her spinning. There was no carpet on the floor—no table anywhere—nothing but the spinning-wheel and the chair beside it."

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Princess Irene's Great, Great Grandmother who lives in the attic eating pigeon eggs and spinning magic thread.

From chapter 2 of The Princess and the Goblin, By George MacDonald:

"It was a picture, though, worth seeing—the princess sitting in the nursery with the sky ceiling over her head, at a great table covered with her toys. If the artist would like to draw this, I should advise him not to meddle with the toys. I am afraid of attempting to describe them, and I think he had better not try to draw them. He had better not. He can do a thousand things I can't, but I don't think he could draw those toys. No man could better make the princess herself than he could, though—leaning with her back bowed into the back of the chair, her head hanging down, and her hands in her lap, very miserable..."

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A personal project of mine. I've always loved this story and I wanted to do some illustrations based on it. This passage where the author warns the artist against drawing the toys was fun to tackle. I liked the idea of putting a lot of clear detail on the princess herself but making all the toys surrounding her abstracted and unfocused.