Inscribed indistinctly, dated and signed u.l..: Tempera/Lefranc?/vi.1911 and inscribed (verso) Formalin/ vii.28

Watercolour, 13 by 14.5 cm (5 ¼ by 5 ¾ ins)

Provenance: the artist’s cousin Isabel Harlock and thence by descent

The presence of two female figures (one nude one playing a mandolin) exactly mirrors the central composition of his 1912 tempera painting Music (Private Collection) and may be an early study for this decorative picture that he painted in the following year. The strongly Giorgionesque quality of the landscape is also indicative of the lifelong influence that Venetian Art of the late fifteenth/early sixteenth century had on Southall. The artist regularly  applied formalin (a solution of formaldyhide) to his pictures which helped in maintaining the stability of the medium.