ERNEST HOWARD SHEPARD (1879-1976) Weather Vane

signed and numbered : ‘E.H. Shepard / 1’ (lower right) watercolour, pencil on paper 22.8 x 16.6 cm (sheet) The drawing with cherubs blowing the wind and the weather vane, made probably for Punch magazine, might be referring to the winds of change at the end of the World War II. Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was an English artist and a successful illustrator, having produced work for illustrated editions of Aesop's Fables, David Copperfield, and Tom Brown's Schooldays, while at the same time working as an illustrator on the staff of Punch. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in The Wind in the ‘Willows’ and ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’