Thomas, Dylan--Levy, Mervyn.

in pencil, head-and-shoulders, depicting Thomas with unkempt hair smoking a cigarette, subscribed by the artist "Dylan | Hollywell Ford | Oxford | 1947" and signed "Mervyn Levy", additionally inscribed on the back of the frame "For a poet potter! | My old poet | friend Dylan Thomas | Sincerely | Mervyn Levy | July 1975", framed and glazed, size of image 310 x 230mm., overall size 410 x 330mm., 1947, very light spotting

The Welsh artist and critic Mervyn Levy (1915-1996) was a lifelong friend of Dylan Thomas; they were in the same year at Mirador Preparatory School and in adulthood they shared a house in London.

It is possible that Levy drew this portrait during an unexpected whirlwind visit by Thomas in the autumn of 1947. In an article written for John O' London's in November 1962, he recalled: "...The last time I sang to him was in the small hours, one night in 1947 when he arrived in Bristol without warning, in the battered car of a mutual friend, en route from London to Oxford... A furious battering around 2.30 a.m. was irritably attended by Mrs Musgrave, my landlady... In the hall stood Dylan, his hair matted in damp coils... Dylan had intended to return to Oxford... But he was exhausted... for three peaceful days, as happy as the lamb white days of our childhood, we ate well, drank with extreme modesty, and spent long hours in the news cinemas, where Dylan felt snug and safe...".