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Cedric Morris was at the height of his powers when painting
still-life subjects, and this work, until recently in the collection of
Morris’s ex-student Glyn Morgan, is a fine example of his later, looser style
of painting.

Cedric Morris was one of the most original British painters
of the twentieth century. His bright and often busy compositions of flowers,
birds and natural landscapes, both abroad and in Britain, demonstrate a
sensitive and endearing naivety, whilst simultaneously capturing the essence of
natural beauty. A lifelong plantsman, he brought back unusual species from
abroad and became an acclaimed breeder of irises.

Although spending the majority of his life in England, Cedric
Morris was proud of his Welsh heritage, having been born to Welsh parents in
Swansea in 1889. Morris inherited the Morris baronetcy from his father George
Lockwood Morris, 8th Baronet on his death in 1947.

Initially Morris intended to go into the army but, failing
the assessments, went to Canada to work on a farm. When he returned to England
he enrolled at the Royal College of Music to study singing but then later
decided to pursue art independently. With the outbreak of World War One, Morris
was unable to fight due to health reasons but contributed to the war effort by
training horses, which would be sent to the front line, until 1916.

From 1917 until 1920 he lived in Newlyn, Cornwall, as part of
the artistic community that had settled there following the extension of the
Great Western Railway in 1877. It was in Newlyn that he met his life-long
partner Arthur Lett-Haines (1894-1978), who was already married, and despite
several other relationships throughout their lives, Morris and Lett-Haines
lived happily together for sixty years. The couple lived together in Paris,
London and then Hadleigh in Suffolk and spent much of their time travelling.