Human connections.....

Famously, King George VI died during the night at Sandringham Castle.  He spent the evening before he died with Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) with a number of paintings spread out in front of them, choosing which they would like to have.    The paintings were by Edward Seago who was a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth, and from whom she had commissioned a set of paintings of Windsor Castle during wartime.    


This drawing by Seago is of Dame Myra Hess, a wildly popular concert pianist who during the War had organised lunchtime concerts every weekday in London.  Monday through Friday six-and-a-half years without fail. If London was being bombed, the concert was moved to a smaller, safer room. Every artist was paid five-guineas no matter who they were. In all, Hess presented 1,968 concerts seen by 824,152 people.


This drawing was produced for a book of poems about wartime scenes by John Masefield, the Poet Laureate.  ("Sea Fever", "Cargoes". etc.)    John Masefield was appointed as Poet Laureate by George V, who was the father of George VI.     And so it goes.....