Peter Purves Smith, Archibald Douglas Colquhoun, c 1946.

Peter Purves Smith was a surrealist painter whose work is represented in many Australian art gallery collections, as well as in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. After fighting in World War II, Peter became ill and was invalided back to Melbourne, where he died. His wife, who later married Russell Drysdale, commissioned this portrait after his death.