Autumn New Works 2022

Provenance

Cedric Morris's secretary at Benton End; by descent

Note: This fine early drawing relates closely to a well known later painting now in the Tate Gallery, London. The subject of Belle of Bloomsbury is a bull terrier bitch called Swirl. She was owned by the artist's sister, Nancy, who lived in Bloomsbury, London during the late 1920s and early 1930s. As Swirl was kept in this part of London for much of her life, the later painting was titled Belle of Bloomsbury. Morris painted the picture especially for his sister while staying with her at Henley shortly after their mother's death. Swirl herself had died some fourteen years earlier.