Victor Ambrus, in all his incarnations

I came across a Victor Ambrus illustration the other day that surprised me.

I remember him fondly from Grandma, Felix and Mustapha Biscuit.

He does comedy really well, with adorably ridiculous animals.



and

But I find he ranks with the classical illustrators as well, in his myth and fairy tale renditions.

And reading up on him today, I discovered that he got his start with horses. He has quite a magical take on them.

I've ordered a few of his books from the library. His Wikipedia page says he has contributed to nearly 300 books.

I love the detail on the one in >2 2wonderY:. I'm sure I grew up with his illustrations in a lot of British children's books, although I never put a name to him before.

I've got his Just So Stories and his rhinoceros is fab.

A Country Wedding



has little substance to the story. The main characters are Wolf and Fox; friends who crash the wedding in hopes of free food. They are richly drawn. And look at all that flora goodness at the bottom of the page.

The humans and the food are treated with lots of detail as well. The last page has a hammered dulcimer player as part of the band.