5. An English Lady by Bruno Essen Recently I attended a conference in Oxford entitled Stalin Reassessed and over lunch made the acquaintance of an elderly woman who had travelled widely in Europe between the wars. When she heard of my interests, she invited me to her apartment to view her collection. Although it contained much that was characteristic of the era, it was this particular painting that held my attention. At first she was reluctant to speak of it, but eventually relented and told of its genesis. From a wealthy family, her sister also had a taste for travel and adventure, but the family became worried when, in Germany, she fell under the spell of the Nazi party. As a placatory gift to her parents she commissioned Bruno Essen to make this study of her by her beloved Tauber river. When war broke out, unable to live with her conflicting loyalties, she returned to this spot and shot herself in the head. My acquaintance kindly allowed me to copy the painting on condition that her identity and that of her sister remain anonymous