Signed u.r.: Eric Robertson

Pencil, 23.5 by 49.5 cm (9 ¼ by 19 ½ ins)

Provenance: acquired by the previous owner from the Maas Gallery

Robertson was a highly gifted Edinburgh painter whose work assimilated the influences of both late Pre-Raphaelite and European Symbolist art, including that of the French painter Gustave Moreau and the Scottish artist John Duncan. He is most famous for his suggestive nude compositions many of which caused scandal in Edinburgh in that era. The present drawing (a study for the 1911 painting “Desire”) is a strong example.