Sir Lawrence Gowing CBE RA, British 1918-1991 - Cleo, 1946; oil on canvas, inscribed on the reverse 'L Gowing', 76.5 x 64 cm (ARR) Provenance: with David Gault (according to the label attached to the reverse of the frame); private collection Exhibited: Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 'Lawrence Gowing Retrospective', 1983 (under the title 'Beryl (Judith)' with correct title handwritten in pencil) (according to the label attached to the reverse of the frame) Note: an accomplished portrait and landscape painter, Gowing was a pupil of William Condstream and protege of Bloomsbury art critic Clive Bell. His sitters include Lord Attlee and Lord Halifax. He went on to become an acclaimed art historian and curator, writing books and exhibition catalogues on Vermeer, Hogarth, Cezanne, Turner, Matisse and Lucien Freud. In 1985 he was appointed honourary curator of the Royal Academy of Arts collection.