Renowned today for his fusion of Post- Impressionism and eastern European folk-art, the Jewish painter Mark Gertler (1891-1939) was inspired at the outset of his career by the northern and early-Italian Renaissance masters.
During four years at the Slade from 1908-12, the young Gertler adopted a strong Italianate-portraiture style, which was regarded as so fine he gained a reputation as the successor to Augustus John, the star pupil of a former generation.