11 Facts About Alan Sorrell

Alan Ernest Sorrell was an English artist and writer best remembered for his archaeological illustrations, particularly his detailed reconstructions of Roman Britain.

The early death of his father resulted in Alan Sorrell's being very reclusive.

Alan Sorrell trained at the Southend municipal school of art and, after a brief spell as a commercial artist in London, he attended the Royal College of Art between 1924 and 1927.

Whilst there, he met William Rothenstein who would act as a mentor for Alan Sorrell and became a close friend.

In 1928, Alan Sorrell won the British Prix de Rome in Mural painting and spent the next three years at the British School at Rome.

Alan Sorrell returned to England in 1931 and became drawing master at the Royal College of Art where his contemporaries included Gilbert Spencer.

Alan Sorrell began his archaeological reconstruction drawings after a chance meeting in 1936 with Kathleen Kenyon on a dig of a Roman site in Leicester, who asked him to produce illustrations for her article for The Illustrated London News.

Alan Sorrell later claimed that he had refused to work on terrain models of cities he thought were of "irreplaceable artistic importance".

Alan Sorrell 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.

Alan Sorrell was married twice, first to Irene Agnes Mary Oldershaw in 1932; they divorced in 1946.

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