Art

An original Pinocchio production cel, with an early inscription. Blue pencil signature and inscription, "To Peggy Fox, from Walt Disney," (possibly studio hand) on a brown 4.25 x 2 inch card affixed to the mat of an original production cel featuring a little Dutch milk maid, who was one of the carved characteras featured on the clock in Geppetto's workshop during the "Give a Little Whistle" sequence from the 1940 Walt Disney Studios film Pinocchio, trimmed and applied to a detailed airbrush background done by the Courvoisier Gallery. After being used for the film, this cel was prepared by the Disney Studio's Courvoiser Unit for presentation, either as VIP gift or for sale through the Courvoisier Gallery distribution system. For about ten years during the late 1930s and 1940s the Courvoisier Gallery was the exclusive distributor of Disney Studio drawings and cels. At first all Courvoisier cels were prepared for sale at the Disney Studio. This involved laboriously trimming the cels to the edges of the characters, hand-creating backgrounds to complement each cel, matting the artwork and labelling it. Roy Disney later decided this was too costly and the work was moved to Courvoisier's workshop. With the original Walt Disney Courvoisier Gallery label to the back of the frame.