Signed and inscribed on label (verso): No.2 ?A Florentine Villa?/R.E.Fry/Ivy Holt/Dorking

Watercolour over pen and sepia ink, 8 3/4 by 13 3/4 ins (22 by 34 cm)

The great critic and Bloomsbury artist Roger Fry studied in Italy and its landscape, art and people were to remain immensely important to him throughout its life. The present work was probably executed on one of the trips he made there in 1912 and 1913 during the time he was romantically involved with his fellow artist, Vanessa Bell. It is known that on their trip to Italy in 1912 they stayed in a friend?s villa in Florence. They also paid visits to many of the beautiful villas around Fiesole, including Bernard Berenson?s house, Villa I Tatti.