From May 1946, when John Craxton first moved to Greece, through to 1967, much of his work drew on its people, nature and landscapes for inspiration. He depicted sailors, fishermen and shepherds, along with taverna life, coastal scenes, local animals (particularly goats) and the bountiful sealife. But a coup in April 1967 resulted in a military junta ruling Greece, after which a fractious and suspicious relationship developed between Craxton and the new regime, with accusations of espionage. The situation did not improve and eventually the artist decided to leave his beloved Greece. Travelling was on the agenda once again, with an absence from Greece for much of the 1970s. 

‘In 1970 he accompanied Michael and Judy Astor on their Kenyan honeymoon, sketching and painting monkeys, wildebeest and lions while on safari. Peter Pears bought a picture of a majestic old lion at a watering hole. It went to Aldeburgh when Benjamin Britten was starting work on the opera Death in Venice, adapting the Thomas Mann novella about an aged and blocked writer tormented by a vision of boyish beauty. The lion became a visual metaphor for the dying composer. It hung in the ground-floor study that Ben used when he could no longer climb the stairs to his former workroom until his death in 1976.’ 1

This charcoal drawing, which is twice as large as the Britten Pears Arts’ painting, depicts the same subject but incorporates the whole creature. The work has never previously been offered for sale.

1. Ian Collins, John Craxton, A Life of Gifts, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2021, pp. 303-304

The Artist
Private Collection, U.K. (acquired directly from the above)

London, Osborne Samuel, Craxton’s Cats, 19th September – 4th October 2024