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The sitter, Harman Grisewood (1906-97) joined the BBC in 1929, subsequently becoming chief assistant to the Director-General. David Jones had a formative influence upon his ideas on art and literature in the summer of 1931, when they shared a house on Caldey Island. This portrait was painted at Jones's parents' house in Brockley. Its title implies an analogy between craftsmanship and the fine art of poetry. Grisewood recalled how the artist especially liked the appearance of the overcoat and 'savagely tore to bits' an earlier version of the portrait 'as though he were attacking an enemy'.