"THE RAT"

Watercolour and gouache on artists board. Measuring 37 x 26cms. Depicting a seated musician, possibly Persian, taking a break from playing his dombra, to feed a rodent. A wicker basket is in the foreground. Signed and titled lower left, presentation inscription to the lower right. The Reeves and Sons board is stamped to the reverse with the artist's name and Kensington Park Road, London address. In very good condition. Unframed.

Inscribed in brown ink "To Harry Riley - / my pal / December 8th 1934". An excellent association. John Hassall (1868-1948), a prolific artist and illustrator, studied in Antwerp and Paris, and was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Society of Miniature Painters. He also belonged to several clubs, including the Langham, the Savage, and the London Sketch Club, of which he was a President from 1903-1904. In 1900, Hassall opened his own New Art School and School of Poster Design in Kensington where he numbered Annie Fish (1890-1964), Bert Thomas (1883-1966), Bruce Bairnsfather (1887-1959), H. M. Bateman (1887-1970) and Harry Rountree (1878-1950) among his students. Harry Riley (1895-1966), to whom this painting is inscribed was a prolific, principally commercial, British artist, who flourished from the 1920s until the 1960s and is best known for his travel posters. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and like Hassall, was a member of, and in the late 1920s president of, the London Sketch Club.