Rabbit and Guinea Pigs

This watercolour was found in a scrapbook RE compiled to show a selection of studies ". . . drawn before I went to the Slade School, London in 1924 - so they represent a cross section of what I was studying out of school up to the age of twenty one.". This is the earliest example we know of RE using a panorama format. He picked the idea up again in the late 1930s and continued using it for many paintings through the following decades. Click the "Panoramas / Friezes" link to see them all.

Dad and his sisters were all very keen on animals. There is much mention of them in his Memoir. When the family moved from Bradford to Ilkley in 1920 and Dad was told his rabbit had to go, he dug his heels in and made a huge fuss till his parents relented. And when he was ill in bed, his mother brought the rabbit up to be with him. In this loving picture of the animals it’s funny how he must suddenly have realised all the guinea pigs were facing one way so decided to paint one head on.