Included with this lot is a letter by Molly Lamb Bobak confirming the artist as Vera Weatherbie and suggesting that Harold Mortimer-Lamb painted the scene on verso.

Although Molly Lamb Bobak speculates in her letter that the painting on verso is by Harold Mortimer-Lamb, in our opinion it is more likely that the verso was painted by Vera Weatherbie in the 1930s. The verso painting style is analogous with her paintings during her time as a student of Frederick Varley. She may have later used the same board to paint the portrait of Harold Mortimer-Lamb.

In the letter, Molly Lamb Bobak writes:

"The painting of my father is definitely by Vera—done most probably in the late ’40s or early ’50s. She did not marry him until 1942 I think.

The painting on the back would be by my dad, I suspect. He had an office on Hastings Street which overlooked the docks (C.P.R.)"