ERNEST HOWARD SHEPARD (1879-1976) Stork carrying baby

signed, inscribed, numbered : ‘E.H. Shepard / 2/ Stork smaller perhaps' (lower right) watercolour, pencil on paper 22.8 x 16.6 cm (sheet) The stork carrying baby might represent the rebirth of Europe and a new beginning after 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’