Signed l.l.: Pryde

Watercolour, gouache, en grisailles, 16.5 by 20 cm (6 ½ by 8 ins)

Provenance: the estate of Sir Ralph Richardson; sold Sotheby’s, The Ralph Richardson Collection, 27 April 2001, lot 310

Pryde’s dark, cavernous interiors regularly dwell on themes of ruin and dereliction. The same can be said of his figure subjects, which often depict rejects in society, whether down-and-outs, beggars or criminals. These themes were brought to fruition in the lithographs he executed for the 1907 publication Portraits of Celebrated Criminals. The foundations for these works were clearly laid out in numerous earlier drawings by the artist depicting “celebrated criminals, rascals and beggars”, celebrating in a “Prydian” way outcasts in society. The present work has been known under several titles (including as a portrait of Ralph Richardson (its former owner) performing in a play) and appears to be a study for a work known (possibly not by Pryde himself) as The Untouchables (sold Christie’s, London, Peter Langan: A Life with Art, 18 December 2012, lot 101).