Searching and Sweeping

Details

William Roberts, R.A. (1895-1980)
Searching and Sweeping
inscribed 'Searching and Sweeping' (lower right)
pencil, pen and black ink and grey wash, lightly squared for transfer
6½ x 5¼ in. (16.5 x 13.3 cm.)
Executed circa 1916-18

Provenance

with Hamet Gallery, London, where purchased by Miss S.M. Kemp in January 1973.

Exhibited

London, Hamet Gallery, William Roberts, R.A., February-March 1971, no. 22.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Roberts travelled to France with the Royal Field Artillery in 1916 and was appointed an Official War Artist from 1917-18. The present work, showing soldiers searching and sweeping for mines, is one of his studies of the front. A larger watercolour of the same title, executed in 1919, was sold at auction in 1994 for £34,000, the second highest price at auction for a work on paper by Roberts.

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