(Enlarged Photo)

Peace Parade, Hyde Park 1926

John William Wright was the son of a miniature painter and was apprenticed to Thomas Phillips RA and studied at the RA schools. He specialised in charming genre pieces, usually featuring what the great watercolours guru Martin Hardie described as “lovely, full-breasted, ringleted ladies” of the kind depicted so lingeringly here. Hardie described his work as “delicate and pleasing” and evocative of the flavour and detail of the period. Sadly, according to Huon Mallalieu, “although an artist of charm and acknowledged ability, he was never very successful and left his family in poor circumstances”.