John Lancaster, Summer Flowers in a Basket, 1964

John Lancaster (1913-1984) was born in India and educated at Marlborough College. He flew with the RAF in the Second World War and afterwards as a private pilot for Prince Aly Khan and the Maharajah of Jaipur. He showed his first flower piece at the Royal Academy in 1949 and painted flowers for the rest of his career. His work was widely reproduced, including as greetings cards by Royle Publications.

A wicker basket rests on a chipped stone ledge, filled with a white peony with a maroon heart, white and apricot lilies, wild roses, a blue poppy and a pink camellia. Red berries, a spray of small yellow flowers and a single red poppy on a curving stem break the outline. A large grey-green leaf spills over the rim. The arrangement follows the Dutch flower pieces of the seventeenth century, bringing together flowers of different seasons.

Oil, signed and dated on the stone ledge at right ‘John Lancaster. 1964.’ In a stained hardwood frame with a gilt slip. Light rubs and small knocks to the frame.