Bar Scene with Photo on Wall and its preparatory drawing are fine examples of Eric Tucker’s “bustling, smoky interiors” — vivid scenes filled with “drinkers and revellers.” The pubs and bars that Tucker frequented at the time were known for their particularly colourful clientele. For instance, at the Forresters Arms, Joe Tucker, in The Secret Painter, recounts the story of one such regular: “a fierce-looking man who would call in for his pint with a row of dead stoats and weasels dangling from his belt.” Similarly, there was Liston’s Music Hall, described as “something of an unofficial gay bar,” complete with “a swearing parrot on the bar.”

Presented together, the preparatory drawing and the oil reveal both constants and subtle differences. Behind the bar, a barmaid lines up drinks, while over her right shoulder a man grins at the pair gathered at the bar, a detail that remains unchanged between the two versions. Although their compositions remain almost identical, the oil introduces new elements. The picture within the picture gains a more recognisable subject, depicting a man cradling a baby, with two female figures positioned to his left. The gender of the figure in the foreground on the left and the figure at the bar on the left is also changed.

Although the punters in these works appear more sober at first glance than those described in the Forresters Arms, their large, toothy grins reveal characters full of mischief and vitality.