Art

Original drawing by Gill, entitled "The Good Shepherd", for one of a pair of reliefs commissioned for the original hospital building in Coventry in 1937. Inscribed by Gill "1 Coventry" in the upper left corner, dated "15.11.37" in the lower right. The designs for the second relief, entitled "The Good Samaritan", were drawn on an identical advertisement leaf, and were completed on 17 November. Gill began carving the reliefs on 31 October 1938, finishing them on 13 November. Coventry Hospital was, however, struck during the Blitz, and The Good Shepherd relief was destroyed during an air-raid on the hospital in 1941. Although damaged The Good Samaritan relief largely survived the bombing and now sits on the out-patient's department as the hospital's war memorial. The design is drawn on the verso of an advertisement leaf for "Essays in orthodoxy". This series of six essays do not appear to have been published in the form advertised here, although it is possible they were collected in his posthumously published collection, Last Essays, (1942). Original pencil transfer drawing (image size 210 x 132 mm, mount size 507 x 405 mm), with ochre chalk on recto. Tipped onto mount, clear plastic pocket to rear with description in pencil on cardboard. A little fingermarking to mount. In fine condition. Presented in a double-sided black stained ash frame with conservation acrylic glazing.