Yesterday's rain-soaked post reminded me of this picture by Henriette Willebeek Le Mair. The print is titled "Raining, still raining", and the little girl's back speaks eloquently of her longing to go out to play! A little bit of searching through the wonderful Bridgeman Art Library collection revealed that the picture is also known as "A Voyage to India" and was one of the illustrations for A Gallery of Children by A.A. Milne. Here is what the Amazon catalogue says about it: In 1923, Henriette Willebeek Le Mair was commissioned by the Colgate Soap Company to do 12 pictures for use in advertisements. A.A. Milne agreed to write a series of short stories, or what he described as "a fanciful elaboration of each picture", so that they could be published in book form. Intriguing. So is the little girl in the picture looking forward to her voyage to India to escape the miserable wet weather, or is she pining for her family who have perhaps gone without her? We shall have to read the story to find out.
Here are some more of her beautiful and delicate pictures, all illustrations to nursery rhymes and the like and taken from our well-thumbed copies of three of her books:
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A note on Carl Larsson:
When I used this Larsson picture to illustrate an earlier post, many people commented on how lovely his work was. I am indebted to a kind reader, Barbara, who has found a source for Larsson cards - have a look here.
I'm so glad I opened my Innocent Newsletter today to find your website, which I've now added to my Blogs I Read. As a watercolourist, I absolutely adore these pictures in your blog. Each one clearly paints a story in a beautiful way. I'll shall look back at your blog now to get a better idea of you and what you write about.
Posted by: A Wildlife Gardener | 28 February 2007 at 06:40 PM
The stance of the little girl looking out at the rain says it all!
Those are beautiful photos and thanks so much for the Karl Larsson link! I have bookmarked it.
Posted by: Peg | 28 February 2007 at 10:25 PM
A fitting picture for the cold, soaking weather.
The proportions of the little girl standing on the windowseat and the huge, assymetrical panes of glass, evokes a sense of quiet gloom.
Posted by: Fiberjoy | 01 March 2007 at 05:26 AM