Marsh and Estuary

This is one of four works depicting the River Thames by Meo in the Museum's collection. It shows small river craft, the majority empty, moored on the banks of the river.

Luigi Alfonzo Rocco Innes Meo, known as 'Gigi', produced several watercolours and drawings and a centenary exhibition of his work was held at Bedales School (where he taught before his death in 1967) in 1986.

Meo joined the Artists' Rifles in 1915 when he was twenty-nine years old. During the First World War, he was sent to the Western Front and took part in the Battle of the Somme. In September 1916, after being diagnosed with shellshock, Meo returned to the Western Front where he was subsequently captured during a German attack. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in Germany.