Harry Morley 1881-1943 The Caledonian Market Oil on canvas; signed. 43 x 37.5 inches

EXHIBITED: Royal Academy, 1936, no.183 Initially trained as architect, Morley went to Italy on an RIBA scholarship and there determined to be a painter. He attended the Academy Julien in Paris, but never forgot early Italian painting. Like the Pre-Raphaelites and the Nazarenes before him, he treated his subjects with hard edges, clear light and bright colours even, as here, treating everyday life in a London flea market between the Wars, like other English painters that engaged in 'Mass Observation'.