Lot Essay
Thompson left New Zealand on his first trip to Europe in 1900, staying under a year in England before moving on to the Académie Julian in Paris. He concentrated on figure painting and portraiture in Paris, then moved to Concarneau in Brittany in 1902 before returning to New Zealand in 1905. He exhibited a figure subject titled 'Shy' at the Royal Academy in 1904 (no. 715).