Richard Shone comments on the present work 'Grant's 1910 'The Lemon Gatherers' (Tate Gallery) was one of the artist's best-known paintings from his early years and was exhibited and reproduced on several occasions. The subject was based on Grant's memory of the Sicilian Players who perfomed in London in 1908. In circa 1919-20 the artist made two versions after his original painting - this one (which shows only the three left-hand figures) and another of the whole composition (private collection, London; reproduced in S. Watney, The Art of Duncan Grant, London, 1992, pl.5). This reworking of an older subject shows Grant's characteristic style, handling and colour in the immediate post-war years, in tune with the neo-classic 'return to order' of his European contemporaries'

We are grateful to Richard Shone for his help in cataloguing this lot