Potter, Beatrix.

Exhibited: Abbot Hall Art Gallery, "Beatrix Potter, 1866-1943: centenary exhibition", February - March 1966

Early in 1893 Beatrix Potter borrowed a number of guinea pigs from her friend Miss Paget. "Mr Chopps" proved to be no problem but "Queen Elizabeth" apparently "took to eating blotting paper, pasteboard, string and other curious substances, and expired during the night" (see The Journal of Beatrix Potter, 1989, p. 311).

A pair of gardening illustrations date from this time: four guinea pigs following a blue-coated guinea pig and four guinea pigs working under the guidance of the blue-coated guinea pig. These were later redrawn in 1922 and used in Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes.

Of the first illustration, one version is held in the V&A collection (with four brown guinea pigs). Of the second illustration, two versions are known: one in the V&A collection and one in the Linder Collection (both with three brown guinea pigs and one white guinea pig).

This present piece, with three brown guinea pigs and one white guinea pig, is therefore a variant of the V&A piece (reproduced within The Art of Beatrix Potter, 1972, p. 199) and suggests the point at which the artist decided to add more variation to the coloring of the guinea pig workers.