Which Tolkien work features the fictional painter Niggle?

“Leaf by Niggle” is the Tolkien work that features the fictional painter Niggle.

Tolkien wrote the allegorical short story during the 1930s, and it was first published in the Irish journal The Dublin Review in 1945. Niggle is a painter who repeatedly postpones practical duties while trying to complete an enormous tree and landscape on a single canvas.

The story explores artistic creation, unfinished work, duty, generosity, and the possibility that a creator’s efforts may become more complete than expected. Its title comes from the small leaf that Niggle carefully paints even though he dreams of finishing the whole image.

The work is often read autobiographically because Tolkien was familiar with the pressures of writing, teaching, and revising large projects. However, it is a fictional allegory, not a direct account of Tolkien’s own life or artistic process.