Lot 1567
‡HAROLD KNIGHT, RA (1874-1961)
THE MAIDEN
Signed, oil on canvas
76.5 x 62cm.
Provenance: London, Phillips, Dcember 4th 2001, lot 45
Exhibited: Warrington (Museum & Art Gallery), Salford Quays (Lowry) and Birkenhead (Williamson Art Gallery), `Shades of British Impressionism : Lamorna Birch and his Circle, A Memorial Exhibition October 2004-February 2005`
* Knight was a pacifist and refused to enlist for service in the Great War. He faced a tribunal to test his beliefs and he was put to work in north Cornwall, hoeing vegetables. Some artists from Lamorna established a temporary base near Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor and Knight relished their company, which he found more forgiving than some of the public disapproval of his pacifism (and even the views of some artists from the wider community). `The Maiden` was painted at Dozmary, using one of Laura Knight's Italian models from London. The sensuous understanding of the fleshtones and anatomy reveals the qualities that established Knight's reputation as a leading portrait painter after the War. This picture may be dated to c.1916
