APPLE PIE. An Original Illustration in Watercolour and Pencil for "CHILDHOOD".

An original illustration beautifully executed in watercolour and pencil. Produced for but not used in "Childhood", a 1907 collection of children's verse written by the artist's sister Githa Sowerby. The illustration shows a little girl in a yellow dress peeling apples for a pie while a donkey peeks through the kitchen window. The illustration itself measures 12.5 cm x 17 cm, the sheet of paper 14.5 cm x 19 cm, and the gold mount 18 cm x 23.5 cm.

Original paintings by Millicent Sowerby are rare; tragically, after her death, Sowerby's niece burned many of them, believing them to be of no value. Childhood, which this illustration is from, was the second children's book she created with her sister Githa. Sowerby's work has been often complimented as sharing a similarity with the work of Kate Greenaway, though her work generally emphasises attention to detail and careful, smooth, three-dimensional rendering more than Greenaway's.