It being H. Rider Haggard’s birthday, I thought I’d take another look at the H. Rider Haggard Project. I first wrote about that interesting endeavor back in 2020. The main question I had, “Who was behind the HRH Project?”, was answered by DMR’s own Dave Ritzlin. The patrons of the Project turned out to be Howard and Jane Frank.

The Franks were both Haggard fans. They also happened to run one of the top SFF art agencies, representing numerous notable artists—and knowing many, many more than that.

This is how the program for Chicon 7, held in 2012, puts it:

“Jane Frank's husband Howard began collecting the books of H. Rider Haggard as a child and Howard's interest in fantasy as an art and literary form have long been influenced by Haggard's writing. Henry Rider Haggard was an English Victorian writer most famous for his heroic adventure stories set in exotic eras and locations, ranging from prehistoric times through ancient Egypt to the Vikings and colonial Africa. His "lost world" books King Solomon's Mines and its sequel Allan Quartermain, and She and its sequel Ayesha, among the first in that genre, were hugely popular and influential and remain so today. (…)
Over time, Jane read all the Haggard books too, and suggested creating a room in their house that could showcase specifically commissioned art based on Haggard's work. Each painting displayed in the room would be created by a major artist, and decorated in Victorian era furnishings.”

That was one hell of a suggestion by Jane. I can’t find any photos of the actual ‘Haggard Room’ in the Franks’ home, but it was recreated by the Chicon people in one room of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency. Check it out below in all its Victorian splendour.

Here’s the Chicon 7 quote:

“Chicon 7 is pleased to provide its own re-creation of the Haggard Room where the art commissioned and collected by the Franks can be exhibited and which can be used for discussions of art, classic fantasy literature, the Victorian period, and steampunk.”

One final Chicon quote is very interesting:

‘The art in the Haggard Room represents scenes from works including "She" (Michael Whelan), "King Solomon's Mines" (Don Maitz), and "The Ancient Allan" (Bob Eggleton). Other artists included in this collection are Gary Ruddell, Donato Giancola, Ian Miller, Jeff Jones, Richard Bober, and Steve Hickman.’

The Whelan, Eggleton, Jones and Hickman paintings were featured in my previous post. This list solves some mysteries and creates others. I had strongly suspected the excellent Don Maitz painting below for King Solomon’s Mines had been done for the Project. I was right.

I tracked down Gary Ruddell’s painting for Haggard’s The Pearl Maiden.

I’m nearly certain that the triptych painting in the Haggard Room photo above is by Donato Giancola. The style doesn’t fit any of the other artists listed. However, I haven’t been able to locate separate pics online, nor do I have more than guesses as to what story/stories they illustrate.

Ian Miller is an artist I’ve covered before, but I’ve never seen anything by him that looked ‘Haggardesque’. Richard Bober’s art is represented by Jane Frank’s Worlds of Wonder website, but I can’t find anything that fits there. So, two mysteries unsolved…for now.

The biggest mystery is this striking painting by Steve Hickman:

It obviously illustrates a scene from HRH and Andrew Lang’s The World’s Desire. However, I had always heard that the Jeffrey Jones painting for the Project was also for that novel. Did the Franks commission two paintings and then pick Jones over Hickman? Honestly, I far prefer the Hickman. The painting itself appeared in the 1998 edition of Spectrum. That would put it in the general timeframe of the Project. Hickman, Jones and Howard Frank are all dead, sadly. Jane Frank would probably be the only living person who knows the details. I reached out to her, but she never responded.

Nonetheless, Jane and Howard Frank did the Haggard legacy—and SFF art in general—a great service commissioning so many fine paintings. Jane Frank’s website can be found here.

Happy birthday, Sir Henry.