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

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.