Live Auction 19041The Delighted Eye: Works from the Collection of Allen and Beryl Freer
William Gear, R.A. (1915-1997)
Lot 363

William Gear, R.A. (1915-1997)

Ruins, Florence

Closed23 January 2020

Price Realised

GBP 2,750

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William Gear, R.A. (1915-1997)
Ruins, Florence
signed and dated 'Gear/44.' (lower right), inscribed and dated again twice 'FIRENZE 44/ FLORENCE '44' (on the reverse), signed, inscribed and dated again 'WILLIAM GEAR./"RUINS, FLORENCE, 1944"' (on the artist's label attached to the backboard)
watercolour, gouache and coloured chalk on paper
15 ¼ x 17 ¼ in. (38.7 x 43.8 cm.)
Executed in 1944.

Manchester Education Committee, from whom purchased by the present owner in October 1995.

Specialist note


This is one of the multicoloured gouache paintings of ruined cities Gear made during the war years. Although he served in the army in Egypt, Palestine and Syria before being posted to Italy in 1943 where he served as a Liaison Officer with the Folgore combat group of the Italian army, Gear painted whenever possible. He even managed to organise an exhibition of his paintings in Florence at the Galleria Michelangelo in 1944. In Ruins, Florence, Gear’s characteristic use of black adds greatly to the tragedy of wartime destruction.

A.L.