Eliot Hodgkin (1905-1987)

Hodgkin rarely painted portraits and it is likely that this work was commissioned by the sitter or his friend Henry Thomas Upcher who was also a friend of Hodgkin's from Harrow School.

Fitzpatrick loved music and had an affinity for cars (he owned a Metallurgique, fitted with an airship engine, that he raced in the Brighton Speed Trials). He also served in the Navy and RAF during the Second World War and taught the infamous pilot Douglas Bader to fly.