Bonhams 1793 : Ernest Howard Shepard (British, 1879-1976) "Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent,"

"Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent," illustration for A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh (London: Methuen; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1926).
Signed "EHS."
Pen and ink on board.
8 x 13.5cm (3 1/8 x 5 5/16in).
Matted and framed.

Sold for US$ 194,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance: Sporting Gallery, 1928 (label to verso).

Shepard always drew his illustrations first in pencil and finished them in India ink, making alterations as he went along. Then he erased the pencil. One can still see on the drawing in pencil that he originally drew Piglet's arms hanging by his side before deciding on the more endearing gesture of clasping them behind him. Pooh and Piglet grow pensive on their walk home after Pooh's party in the concluding chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh:

Later on, when they had all said 'Good-bye' and 'Thank-you' to Christopher Robin, Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent.
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast' said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

This elegant, wistful drawing is the penultimate illustration of Winnie-the-Pooh that shows Pooh and Piglet just moments before they turn back into ordinary toys and Christopher Robin drags Winnie-the-Pooh--bump, bump, bump--back up the stairs behind him.