With inscription (verso): lightening sketch drawn for me by John Craxton (at Kidderpore Avene, NW3, 1965)

Pencil, 14 by 10 cm (5 ½ by 4 ins)

Provenance: a gift from the artist to the family of the previous owner in 1965

Cats are the signature subject of Craxton’s later work – a constant in his Christmas cards, notes and letters to friends. At the artist’s memorial service, Sir David Attenborough, Craxton’s old friend and collector of his work observed “He had a robust sense of humour and an almost unforgivable taste for puns. He produced a series of linocuts for a Christmas card based on that favourite animal of his – the cat. One showed a cat sitting on a column with the caption ‘cat-a-pillar’. There were others – which I will leave to your imagination – captioned ‘cat-astrophe’, ‘cat-a-pult’ and, regrettably, ‘cat-stration’”.