ΦDame Laura Knight DBE, RA, RWS (1877-1970)

ΦDame Laura Knight DBE, RA, RWS (1877-1970)
The Fawn
Signed Laura Knight (lower right)
Oil on canvas
40.8 x 61.2cm

Provenance:
Phillips, 28 April 1997, lot 63;
Sotheby’s, New York, 18 June 1997, lot 65;
Private Collection

Exhibited:
London, Leicester Galleries, Recent Paintings by Laura Knight, April 1939, no.20

"Among wild growth on the Estate this baby fawn has been found – a newly born little creature deserted. One of my friends fed it from a bottle and kept it happy. Eventually it went back to the wild. I do not know what type of deer it was, but was entranced with the lovely little creature, so timid, but trusting".
- Dame Laura Knight in a letter regarding the present work

Laura Knight painted this work in the 1930s, whilst she and her husband Harold were staying with their close friend George Cross at Compton Hall, Compton Chamberlayne near Salisbury. The Knights first met Cross in 1928, when he commissioned Laura to painting a portrait of Rosemary Ealand. They became close friends, and the Knights spent several Christmases at Compton Hall in the early 1930s. Both artists painted several works there, and on occasion Harold was joined by Lamorna Birch to take advantage of the trout fishing available on the estate.

We are grateful to John Crofts for his assistance cataloguing the present work. The painting is no.339, in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Laura Knight's work.