This weeks Antiques Trade Gazette features Rountree Tryon Galleries work by Frank Owen Salisbury (1847-1962) titled 'Intercepting Doodlebugs over the South Coast, 1944'.
This Second World War oil on canvas was commissioned by Duncan Sandys, Chairman of The Defence Committee, London 1944.
The painting depicts a group of German Doodlebugs emerging from the Channel to fly over anti-aircraft guns based most likely in Kent. One has already been downed into the sea, with another on the left seemingly in free-fall having also been hit.
Frank Salisbury was a well-known portrait artist who painted six American Presidents as well as Winston Churchill's portrait more than any other artist. This painting is therefore a slight digression from him into War Art, but one that he has achieved effortlessly, perhaps taking inspiration from artists such as Charles Pears and Norman Wilkinson to show action in the heat of battle.