Lunch at the Café Royal, London

Details

Dame Laura Knight, D.B.E., R.A., R.W.S. (1877-1970)
Lunch at the Café Royal, London
signed 'Laura Knight' (lower right)
pencil, black and sanguine chalk with green wash, on paper
22½ x 15½ in. (57.2 x 39.4 cm.)

Provenance

Studio Sale of Dame Laura Knight; Sotheby's, London, 22 July 1971, lot 70.

Exhibited

Worthing, Worthing Art Gallery, Paintings and Drawings by Dame Laura Knight, May-June 1963, no. 8 (on loan from the artist).
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Dame Laura Knight, D.B.E., R.A., 17 July-12 September 1965, no. 152, lent by the artist.

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Lot Essay

Drawn from a sketch dated 1916, the present drawing depicts one of Laura's favourite meeting places, the Café Royale on Regent Street, London, where she went to meet her friends and acquaintances in the art world and also from the literary, theatre and ballet fraternities.
In the 1890s the Café Royale was said to have the greatest wine cellar in the world and was considered to be the best place to see and be seen. Famous patrons included Oscar Wilde, Virginia Wolfe, Brigitte Bardot, George Bernard Shaw and more recently Diana, Princess of Wales.
The present drawing will be included in the Catalogue Raisonné currently being compiled by Dame Laura Knight's great-nephew R. John Croft, F.C.A.

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