Locals passing along Broughton Street, or looking at the shop's business cards or reading its advertisements online here may occasionally have wondered about the origin of Villeneuve Wines' fascinating artwork.
Their floating cockerel, the well-lubricated donkey, and the caricature below (of David Hockney?) are clearly extraordinary but where are they from?
Spurtle can reveal that they are the work of Harry Horse (real name Richard Horne, 1960–2007), the hugely gifted but volatile children's author, illustrator and political cartoonist whose coruscating satires appeared in a variety of national newspapers from 1987 until his death three years ago.
'He was a resident of Peebles when we were setting up there in the 1980s,' says Villeneuve's Will Bain, '... before he did any major work. Kenny [Vannan] got him to do some designs for us. I think we bought them for a couple of hundred quid! Not bad, eh?'
Not bad indeed, and it's good to be reminded that, for all the violent horror of the artist's end, his life was also illuminated by strangely brilliant and intriguing humour.
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