Two studies for Love in a Valley, pencil on paper and watercolour Allen, George Warner

390x295mm. Unframed. Two studies for George Warner Allen s painting Love in a Valley. The painting was finished in 1951, and was inspired by verses from the eponymous poem by George Meredith: Under yonder beech-tree single on the green-sward | Couched with her arms behind her golden head | Knees and tresses folded to slip and ripple idly | Lies my young love sleeping in the shade . The two studies here, are preparatory sketches by Allen, who has dated them 1951 in pencil. The sketch is captioned early drawing for Love in a Valley, 1st version , alluding that this is the very first sketch for the piece. It is also captioned Miss Figgins in pencil, who is presumably the inspiration for Love in a Valley . The early sketch differs greatly to the later version, not just in medium, but there are several details which distinguish the two. Firstly, Warner Allen has annotated his initial sketch tulips , with an arrow pointing to the dress worn by the figure. The later watercolour is wearing a plain grey dress perhaps this minor change would distract from the portrait and its simplicity. In the initial sketches too, the figure has her eyes shut in the later watercolour, her eyes are squinting, and directed to the artist. This might be in line with John Berger s later study on the male and female presence from Ways of Seeing: 'The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.' The watercolour then, is a more complete work, and closer to the original. In applying paint to his earliest sketch, with some formal alterations too, this version is alive and thoroughly engaged. The pencil annotations are simpler, reading only, in his hand: Study for Love in a Valley . In another hand, the artist s name has been added, the date of the piece too. There is an additional sketch, seated just above the watercolour, seemingly another formal study of the same work. This is a fine pair, showing the artistic process of a renowned mid-20th century painter. It is finer so with the connection to Meredith s eponymous poem. It is a natural piece, and the main component of the completed painting. Incredibly scarce in this early format. Born in Paris, George Warner Allen was the only son of writer and oenophile Herbert Warner Allen who was the official British war correspondent with the French army and worked for many years for the Morning Post. Allen was educated at Lancing College before attending Byam Shaw School of Art (1933-39) on the advice of the decorative artist Robert Anning Bell. There he was taught by F. Ernest Jackson, regarded as the best drawing teacher of his generation, and fraternised with fellow student and muralist Brian Thomas (1912-1989) whose style he greatly respected and who was later appointed Principle of Byam Shaw (1946-1954). During the war years Allen was deployed to work in the Camouflage Directorate in Leamington Spa. After the war, he experimented obsessively with the traditional materials and methods used by the old masters, especially Venetian painters. He ground his own paint and applied oil glazes to tempera underpainting to enhance colour and form. He became an associate of the International Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and a member of the Artworkers Guild. In 1952 Walker's Galleries in Bond Street mounted the first one-man show of Allen's work, for which Brian Thomas wrote the catalogue introduction. Its success led to a second show at Reading Art Gallery a year later. His style was popular with private collectors, including with poets John Betjeman and T. S. Eliot, the latter an old friend of his father s and for whom Allen painted a scene from his play The Family Reunion.