Study of draperies.

Drawing, black chalk and grey wash, 24,5 x 33,2 cm, grey laid paper, unsigned (repaired tear at right edge).

James Kerr-Lawson (1863-1939) was only three when his family emigrated from Fife (Canada) to Hamilton, Ontario. When he reached adulthood he returned to Europe, eventually settling in London. He fought in the First World War and in 1917 was commissioned by the Canadian Government to paint the ruined cities of Arras and Ypres. Kerr-Lawson was best known as a portrait painter and muralist. His portraits and landscapes of the late 1890s were influenced by the Realist plein-air painter Jules Bastien-Lepage, while his decorative paintings of the early 1900s are reminiscent of Venetian painters Canaletto and Tiepolo. His works are now in the Tate Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada.