WILD APPLES signed; inscribed by Douglas Duncan "David Milne: Wild Apples, Sept 1944" on the stretcher on the reverse oil on canvas 30.5 by 40.6 cm. 12 by 16 in. This work was probably painted at Baptiste Lake, 6-7 October, 1947, not 1944 as noted by Douglas Duncan. In a letter of October 5, 1947, Milne wrote to Kathleen Milne, "Along the railway track I found a small crabapple someone had dropped, then I saw the tree, loaded with fruit, but broken off by someone picking. The apples are about the size of a cherry and grow in bunches on long stems as cherries do. I picked some, thought I might paint them. I think they must be native, were growing at the edge of the bush among the other trees." From the Catalogue Raisonné: "Two days later, in the same letter, Milne reports that he painted yesterday [6 October] and today, shelter at night [Shelter at Night, 501.6] and a small oil, 'still life'. We believe the small oil was Wild Apples. If so, it is the only Baptiste Lake oil and probably the last canvas Milne painted". This work is in the Milne Catalogue Raisonné as no. 501.7.

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