Alan Sorrell

Alan Ernest Sorrell (11 February 1904 – 21 December 1974) was an English artist and writer best remembered for his archaeological illustrations, particularly his detailed reconstructions of Roman Britain. He was a Senior Assistant Instructor of Drawing at The Royal College of Art, between 1931–39 and 1946–48. In 1937 he was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society.

Early life Sorrell was born in Tooting, London, and moved to Southend, Essex, at the age of two. The son and second child of Ernest Thomas Sorrell (1861–1910), a jeweller and watchmaker, and his wife Edith Jane Sorrell, née Doody (1867–1951), Alan Sorrell would often go with his father on trips away drawing landscapes as a child.

World War Two

During World War II, Sorrell worked in the Royal Air Force in 1940, and then was transferred to the Air Ministry in 1941, applying his artistic talents to help camouflage aerodromes. For a time he worked in the high security Central Intelligence unit at RAF Medmenham, where he was part of a team working on terrain models for bombing missions, and on models of battleships, such as the German battleship . Sorrell later claimed that he had refused to work on terrain models of cities he thought were of "irreplaceable artistic importance". He created artworks of air force life in his spare time as well as completing several short-term commissions from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, to depict airfields and runway construction. In total WAAC acquired some 26 paintings from Sorrell. Public awareness of his work was increased by his prolific output and his many publications, starting with 'Roman Britain' (1961), as well drawings commissioned for TV series such as Who Were the British? for Anglia TV. Professor Barry Cunliffe wrote:

Throughout this post-war period, Sorrell still found time for his more imaginative work, which was exhibited at both the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Academy plus other venues. The titles were often evocative, such as The Fallen Emperors, The Stone Men and The Dark Tower. A strong characteristic of these paintings is, according to Sorrell, "a sense of the decay of a noble past, and this and their treatment, in its starkness and drama, links them inevitably with his archaeological drawings". This was indicative of his Neo-Romantic outlook which was reflected in works such as The Spoilers, and The Assault which was left unfinished on his easel at the time of his death.

He died in 1974, and is buried in Sutton cemetery, Southend-on-Sea, with his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1991.

Collections and galleries Imperial War Museum (13 works) Liss Fine Art London Transport Museum (3 works) Museum of London (13 works) Sir John Soane's Museum (Exhibition 2013–2014) Tate Gallery (2 works) English Heritage (40 works) National Museum Cardiff Government Art Collection (3 works) Arts Council Collection Cadw Historic Scotland Manchester Art Gallery (two works) Verulanium Museum Royal Air Force Museum London (70+ works inc. Nubia collection) Magdelen College, Oxford (two works inc. portrait of C S Lewis) Royal Academy of Music (1 work) Museum of Reading Dorset Museum (1 work) British Museum Portsmouth Museum British Postal Museum and Archive (1 work) Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield (2 works) Bradford Art Galleries (1 Work) Tyne & Wear Museums and Archive (1 work) Norwich Castle Museum (2 work) Colchester Castle Museum (3 works) Chelmsford Museum and Art Gallery South Mill Arts Bishop's Stortford Museum Wearing Art Gallery (1 work) Stoke Museum Service (1 work) Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Carlisle Royal Cornwall Museum Truro (2 works) The National Maritime Museum (1 work) The Mitchell J Wolfson Museum of Decorative & Propaganda Art, Miami (1 work) Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Glasgow (1 work) Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (3 works) National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

Publications Latinum A reader for the first stage of Latin by C.B. Robinson with illustrations by Alan Sorrell, Cambridge at the University Press, 1940 Roman Britain text by Aileen Fox, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1961 Saxon England text by John Hamilton, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1964 Living History, text and drawings by Alan Sorrell, B T Batsfords Ltd, London 1965 Norman Britain text by H. R. Loyn, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1966 Prehistoric Britain text by Barbara Green, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1968 The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version Colour illustrations by Alan Sorrell, William Collins & Sons, London 1968 Imperial Rome, by Anthony Birley and Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1970 Stories from Livy by R.M. Ogilvie, original drawings and maps by Alan Sorrell, Oxford University Press, 1970 Nubia: A Drowning Land text by Margaret S. Drower, paintings by Alan Sorrell, Longmans, London & Harlow, 1970. British Castles text and illustrations by Alan Sorrell, B T Batsford Ltd, London 1973 Roman Towns in Britain text and illustrations by Alan Sorrell, foreword by Dr Graham Webster, B T Batsford Ltd, London 1976 Medieval Britain Drawing by Alan Sorrell & Richard Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1978 Alan Sorrell: Ail-greu'r Gorffenol (1980. National Museum of Wales) Reconstructing the Past by Alan Sorrell, edited by Mark Sorrell, Batsfords, 1981,