Two Slade School life studies

These two studies on one sheet would have been made in the life room of the Slade School of Art, when John was studying there 1894-8. He was regarded by his peers and teachers at the School as the finest draughstmen of his generation. This life model, who can be seen in other studies by John, is seen with a prop which probably enabled to hold an uncomfortable, leaning pose. John won a drawing prize at the Slade for a copy after Watteau, and these studies are rather in the same vein.

The studies are signed, lower righ,t 'John' in capital letters under the mount (the J being visible). John has also written on the upper drawing, in his hand of the time, a word whiich looks a bitn like 'lets', although it is not clear what this means. They are on a sheet of thin paper, 14 x 10 inches, a sketchbook size used by the artist when he was at the Slade, and has a watermark of what appears to be the head of a soldier. The paper has discoloured with exposure to light.

This sheet was previously in the collection of Gwynneth Johnstone (1915-2010), the daughter of Augustus John and Nora Brownsword, who was a model for John in the 1910s. Johnstone herself was a painter, and also studied at the Slade.