Paul Lucien Maze, born in Le Havre in 1887, first came to the attention of the British art scene after the First World war, exhibiting with other French artists such as Matisse, Bonnard, Utrillo and Vuillard, with whom he was on friendly, collaborative terms.

Maze was naturalized as a British subject in 1920, shortly after his marriage to the widow of a wartime friend, Captain Thomas Nelson. He moved to 14 Chelsea Embankment in the same year and fell to painting the London scene with great enthusiasm, relishing, like so many French impressionists and post-impressionists, the fogs and dingy back streets as much as the pageantry and grandeur of the City's setting.

Our oil dates probably dates from the early 1920s, when Maze could often be seen sketching in the streets around South Chelsea . Despite knowing the area quite well, we haven't yet been able to track down the exact location.

Maze was a friend and painting partner of Winston Churchill, whom he met while on active service in the First World War with the Royal Scots Greys, where he worked as an interpreter. In later life, Maze became better known for pretty pastel treatments of the English social scene, particularly military and sporting occasions.

Provenance: Leicester Galleries, 1922 Christies, 1950

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