OTTO DIX (1891-1969)

Chalk Cliffs in the Sun German, 1916 Black chalk on beige paper 284 x 208 mm The experience of war was a dominant theme in Dix’s work until the 1930s. Taken from a sketchbook compiled during the artist’s service in the German field artillery during the First World War, this drawing depicts a devastated landscape … Read more

OTTO DIX (1891-1969)

Soldiers’ Graves Between the Lines Düsseldorf, 1924 Etching and aquatint 192 x 287 mm The full moon leers over the churned earth of a rat-infested mass grave; shattered body parts erupt from the soil. This nightmarish image is part of Dix’s print cycle Der Krieg (War), 1924, based on his memories as a soldier. Like … Read more

GEORGE BELLOWS (1882-1925)

The Life Class New York, 1917 Lithograph 354 x 494 mm The Life Class was one of a series of lithographs that Bellows produced with the printer George Miller. It may have been based on drawings made much earlier in his career, and it certainly relates to an earlier time. The potbelly stove and other … Read more

JEAN (HANS) ARP (1886-1966)

Homme vu par une fleur (Man Seen by a Flower) Meudon, France, 1958 Bronze 6 x 12.4 x 11 cm There is no primary point of view for this curious and tactile little sculpture, best appreciated when turned in the hand. While it is essentially an abstract or non-representative object, the playful title suggests something … Read more

Roman Egypt

Roman Egypt Ptolemaic Egypt was gradually absorbed into the Roman Empire between the days of the First Triumvirate in Rome and the change in rule from Ptolemy XIII to his sister-wife Cleopatra VII in Egypt, in 47 BCE, and the suicides of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE. This was related to the … Read more

Late Roman

Late Roman Coins Coins from between the end of the house of Constantine – with the death of Julian in 363 – and the reforms of Anastasius I (491-518) are, in the Barber’s collection, considered as a separate and ‘Late Roman’. The century sees the continued shift from the importance of the silver to the … Read more

Roman Empire

Coins from the Roman Empire Coins from the demise of Marc Antony in 31 BC, leaving Octavian as sole military dictator (imperator) and later acclaimed as Augustus (by which name he is better known), are counted as Roman imperial, rather than republican. This is the case for all Roman issues until the reforms of Anastasius … Read more

DAVID COX (1783-1859)

Travellers near Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire Derbyshire, probably 1830s Watercolour with gum Arabic 265 x 365 mm Cox uses warm browns and reds to depict two men travelling through woodland towards Hardwick Hall, which can be seen in the distance. Hardwick, a celebrated Derbyshire country house built in the 1590s, was among Cox’s favourite subjects. He … Read more

DAVID COX (1783-1859)

Farmer on Horseback Passing a Windmill England or Wales, probably 1810-50 Watercolour 283 X 400 MM Birds circle the calm skies as a farmer slowly rides his horse past a windmill. The low horizon and large sky is typical of Cox’s preoccupation with depicting changeable weather and atmosphere. He returned to the theme of the … Read more

DAVID COX (1783-1859)

Snowdon Gwynedd, 1853 Black chalk and watercolour, on Scotch paper 210 X 372 MM David Cox often travelled to Wales and frequently portrayed the mountains of North Wales throughout his career. This rapid watercolour sketch was most likely completed on the spot. Cox increasingly used ‘Scotch paper’, a type of wrapping paper, during his later years. The irregular, … Read more