Pot of Flowers, Ischia

'It was not until the mid-1920s that the artist began to devote some part of his energies to flower-painting. A number of examples appeared at an exhibition held at Messrs Tooth's in April-May 1929. Flowers were an alternative to, and in some respects (at least from Dorelia's point of view) preferable to, models. 'There's nothing much in the way of flowers here and I have no models', John wrote to Dorelia from the Ville Ste Anne on 6th April 1928, 'I might as well be dead'. According to Dorelia, the very first flower picture - now owned by Sir Caspar John [the present work] - was painted during a visit to Ischia in the early summer of 1925'.
(M. Easton and M. Holroyd, The Art of Augustus John, London, 1974, p.86).