Roger Fry, Lot n° 31

Roger Fry, British 1866-1934- St Francis giving his cloak to a destitute nobleman, after Giotto; oil on canvas, 48x46cm Note: The present picture is a copy after a fresco by Giotto in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. In 1917 Fry organised an exhibition at the Omega Workshops called ‘Copies and Translations of Old Masters’, to which he invited all the artists who were associated with the Omega to contribute. The intention was to encourage young artists not to make perfect copies of the originals, but rather to learn new things while making a loose copy or study of an Old Master painting. Fry chose to copy Giotto. He later hung some of these copies in among his collection of paintings in his home at 48 Bernard Street in London. A photograph of his dining-room, reproduced on p. 260 of Frances Spalding’s Roger Fry: Art and Life, shows a copy of a Giotto fresco hanging on the wall. We are grateful to Dr Frances Spalding for her assistance with the cataloguing of this lot. In a gilded frame. Please refer to department for condition report