Robert Medley

Early life

Medley was born in London, one of six children to Charles Medley, a highly successful copyright lawyer who was friends with many writers of the day. He was educated at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk from 1919 to 1923, before briefly attending the Byam Shaw School of Art. During 1924 Medley studied art at the Royal Academy Schools but soon switched to the Slade School of Fine Art and then completed his art training by spending two years, from 1926 to 1928, in Paris.

At Gresham's School Medley was the friend of W. H. Auden, and first suggested that Auden might write poetry, although Medley did not know at the time that he had this effect. As described in his memoir, Drawn from the Life, in his early years Medley believed he was heterosexual and therefore did not understand Auden's erotic intentions toward him until they spent a single weekend together after both had left school. Until he was seduced at 19, he recalled later, "I was still under the illusion that I was entirely heterosexual."

Work in public collections

There are many paintings in British public collections.

Rhododendrons (1950) at the Tate Gallery

Portrait of Maggi Hambling (1988) at the Ashmolean Museum Archived 9 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine

Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire - Landscape