Oil on canvas, 45 by 35 cm

Provenance: Middleton Todd family archive; Barbara Kirk auctioneers, October 2014

Middleton Todd studied in Cornwall under Stanhope Forbes and then in London before continuing his training at the Slade under Henry Tonks following the end of World War One. He gained a significant reputation as a portrait painter as well as an artist in pastel, his attractive soft tones perfectly suiting the medium, a style that also transfers very successfully to his work in oil (as seen in the present painting). The artist Roland Batchelor who was taught by Todd wrote: “He had a wonderful feeling for colour. He saw things in a very subtle way. His harmony of colours was delightful. Pastel as a medium suited him because he loved the muted colour.” (catalogue introduction, The Fosse Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold, Works from the Studio of A.R.Middleton Todd, R.A., Sept-Oct 1985).