Charles Robinson Sykes 1875-1950 English School Etching on cream wove paper. Children playing on a beach. 14 by 20 cms. Plate. 27 by 39 cms. Sheet.
In 1898 Sykes won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. He remained in the capital after completing his studies and established a successful career mixing fine and commercial art. At around this time, he dropped his full given name of Charles Robinson Sykes in favour of plain Charles Sykes.
Sykes's first commission was for a triptych for Beaulieu Abbey, the Cistercian Abbey at which his patron, Lord Montagu, was lay abbot. Five years later, the warm reception given to a statuette of a bacchante that Sykes exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts led to his being commissioned to design the mascot for Rolls Royce known as the 'Flying Lady' or 'Spirit of Ecstasy' (1911). Each cast of the mascot being cast and chased by Sykes when ordered by a buyer of a Rolls Royce.