[SHEPARD, ERNEST H.]

An original drawing, untitled, for an unrealized version of the English nursery rhyme, "The Old Woman and her Pig." [London: circa 1957–1966]. 10 1/2 x 7 7/8 inches (27 x 20 cm); pen and watercolor on Winsor & Newton Ltd. Whatman Water-Colour board, untitled and unsigned, Inscribed on the back of the frame "By Ernest Shepard" and with a label inscribed "Purchased by ABM." Matted, framed, and glazed.

This drawing seems to illustrate the very beginning of the nursery rhyme (found in many variations): "As she was coming home, she came to a stile. But the piggy wouldn't go over the stile," thus setting up more and more desperate attempts to get the pig over the stile so the old lady can get home that night. For a related pencil drawing, "The old Woman and her Pig: She went a little farther and met some water," evidently from the same abortive work, see Christie's South Kensington, 13 May 2014, lot 385 (part).

Provenance:

Alastair Bradley Martin — by descent to the present owner