Chinese School (c.1920) – H.M.S. Hawkins

H.M.S. Hawkins was ordered in December 1915, laid down by HM Dockyard, Chatham on 3 June 1916, launched on 1 October 1917 and completed on 23 July 1919. Hawkins was the flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron on the China Station by September 1920 and continued in that role for the next eight years. The picture is likely to have been commissioned by a member of the crew and painted in China between 1920 and 1928.

Oil on canvas: 16 x 22 in. (40.7 x 56 cm.)

The painting is missing its stretcher and has been loosely fixed to a sheet of board to support two old punctures in the sky, a third puncture (upper left) was done after the board had been applied.