This mid-20th-century oil painting by English artist John JG Blundell (1927-2016) depicts a middle-aged man in profile.Every now and then we discover a special piece by an unknown artist that’s apparently dropped off the map entirely, despite the evident quality of their work. This is one of those occasions. When we acquired this characterful portrait, it was simply described as having a monogram of ‘JB’. But following our research, we discovered the name Blundell on the reverse, and this led us to John James Griffith Blundell of Kent.Blundell undertook a diploma in the late 1940s, and this piece formed part of it. It’s inscribed as such in the lower right and dated 1948. There are surprisingly few works in circulation relating to the rest of his career aside from two watercolours, an oil painting, and an abstract sculpture, which is dated 1975. He’s known to have exhibited at The Mall Galleries in London.We can only speculate as to the identity of the smart gentleman portr...