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Author: Bemelmans, Ludwig
Title: He Built Himself A Guillotine - original illustration from Madeline and the Bad Hat
Place Published:
Publisher:
Date Published: c.1956
Description:

Ink and watercolor wash, on Whatman Drawing Board. 50x80.5 cm (19¾x31¾").

Signed within the painting at lower right. The original illustration reproduced on pages 26-27 of "Madeline and the Bad Hat," the third volume in Ludwig Bemelmans' series of tales of the young Madeline, the smallest of a dozen young ladies cared for by Miss Clavel at a Paris convent school. The "bad hat" in the story is Pepito, the son of the neighboring Spanish Ambassador whose antics infuriate the more sensible Madeline. In the present illustration the young man has constructed a guillotine to assist the cook in preparing the chickens, Madeline and the other girls looking on tearfully from the window above. His continued cruelty towards animals backfires when he tries to loose a cat amongst a pack of dogs and finds himself the center of the dogs' attack. After a reprimand by Madeline he gives up his mischievous ways and converts to vegetarianism. Label of the Hammer Galleries, New York on the rear. Accompanied by a copy of the first trade edition of the book (New York: Viking, [1957]), signed by Bemelmans on the half title.

Lightly worn at board edges, evidence of prior framing on rear; near fine.