Portrait of the artist's son David John seated and wearing a straw hat

David John was the eldest son of Ida and Augustus John and was born in 1902, it has therefore been suggested that this drawing was executed in around 1909-1910 when David would have been 7 or 8 years old. He was educated in Paris; at Alderney under the tutorship of John Hope-Johnstone; then at Dane Court where he was head boy; and finally at Westminster. For many years he was an oboist in the Sadler's Wells orchestra. He also worked as a postman and a furniture remover. (see M. Hollroyd, Augustus John, London, 1974.) John's drawing of women and children, particularly in the first decade of the 20th Century, show the artist at the height of his powers as a draughtsman. There are at least two other known drawings of David in which he is depicted wearing this straw hat. A drawing of David slightly younger, aged four and not wearing a straw hat was sold at Christie's, King Street on the 5th of March, 1999.