'THEY TOOK PETER'S CLOTHES OFF THE SCARECROW'. An original painting illustrating 'The Tale of Benjamin Bunny'.

Original watercolour, ink and bodycolour painted on cream silk, depicting Peter and Benjamin in a field with three birds and a scarecrow behind them. With the hand-written caption "They took Peter's clothes off the scarecrow. Benjamin tried on the tam-o-shanter, but it was too big for him" in ink underneath, and with a small pencilled number "8" to the left. Framed. Near fine condition, the painting and silk bright and clean save for a few very faint, tiny marks. The lightly rubbed frame is firm and sound. The illustrations measures 11.2 x 11.2cm and the glazed frame measures 13 x 13 cm. A stunning original Beatrix Potter illustration with excellent provenance.

After the complex and intricately illustrated 'The Tale of Squirrell Nutkin' and 'The Tailor of Goucester' (both published in 1903), Beatrix Potter set out to create a simpler story in the style of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (1902). The resulting book, 'The Tale of Benjamin Bunny', features both Peter and his cousin Benjamin (who was inspired by one of Potter's own pet rabbits) as they attempt to rescue Peter's clothes that were lost during his run-in with Mr McGregor. The present painting is one of a series given by the artist to her friends the Townley family of Hardcragg Hall, Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria. The Townleys had a pig farm from which Potter's tenant farmer John Cannon bought pigs for Potter's Hill Top farm in Ambleside. When Potter went to see a new litter of piglets herself she came away with a small black 'girl-pig', despite farmer Townley's insistence that Cannon wouldn't want it to join the Hill Top herd. Undeterred, Potter raised the piglet herself as a pet, and it become the inspiration for Pig-Wig from 'The Tale of Piggling Bland', which is dedicated to the Townley's children Cecily and Charlie. (Linder). A similar image is published on page 38 of the 1904 first edition published by Frederick Warne. Provenance: Given by Beatrix Potter to the Townley family; gifted by Mrs Townley to family friend Mrs Ellen Preston around 1913; thence by descent until sold at Christie's, Illustrated & Private Press Books and Original Illustrations, 31st May 1996, lot 247; private UK collection.