Clarisse Loxton Peacock

UK. Her artistic training was quintessentially British, beginning at the Chelsea School of Art followed by postgraduate studies at Central St Martins College.

Loxton Peacock sold her first paintings in the 1950s to the Walker Gallery, Liverpool, and to the San Francisco Museum of Art. Following her initial exhibition in 1959, she went on to display in many leading London galleries as well as in France (including The Salon de Paris in 1977), Germany and New York. Her paintings always sold well, the critics were appreciative, she had a number of devoted collectors and The Salon de Paris awarded her the Medaille d'argent.

Loxton Peacock married Grantley Loxton Peacock while she was still very young. After his death in 1979, she married her great friend and long standing collector of her work, Sir Anthony Grover. Together they led an active social life both in London and at their home in Sandwich. When he died, she married for a third time, to Sir James Dunnett, in the Henry 7th Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

Loxton Peacock was a great admirer of the Italian still life painter Morandi. Concentrating largely on still life painting, she stove to achieve the subtle, contemplative nature of Morandi's work in her own images of flowers, bowls, birds and figurative subjects. Her vibrant and striking compositions show the gift she had as a bold and vivid colourist, whilst the playfulness of many of the paintings is indicative of the charismatic socialite who painted them.

After the death of her third husband, Loxton Peacock gave up painting, claiming she no longer had the strength to paint standing up as she had always done. She completed her last piece in 1996. Clarisse Loxton Peacock died eight years later, 24 July, 2004, aged 80. Her paintings hang throughout the world, in public and private collections from South Africa to the United States.