Ben Heywood :: Look & Learn: Illustrations

Look & Learn No 853 (20 May 1978) - Into The Unknown: England's First Great Colonist

Artist: Oliver Frey (All)

36 Views - 2 Comments - 2 Likes

Look & Learn No 853 (20 May 1978) - Into The Unknown: England's First Great Colonist Comic Art

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Additional Images:

verso

Cover

L&L #853 DPS splash

Baraldi

Next Item:
Look & Learn No 846 (1 April 1978) - Into The Unknown: America - Discovered By A Trick

Artwork Details

Title:	Look & Learn No 853 (20 May 1978) - Into The Unknown: England's First Great Colonist
Artist:	Oliver Frey (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	36
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	2
Added to Site:	1/21/2026
Comic Art Archive:

Description

October 29th, 1618. Tudor swashbuckler Sir Walter Raleigh faces the executioner's axe: "What dost thou fear? Strike, man, strike!"

Bit of mystery this one. Bought from an Italian auction house, this was sold as being by the Italian illustrator Severino Baraldi: and, in Look & Learn 853 (20 May 1978, as confirmed by the verso of the illustration), the DPS for this feature does credit the artist as Baraldi (these articles were typically illustration with a DPS splash, then a smaller spot illustration on the third, concluding page).

But is this illustration really by Baraldi? Over the course of 1978, Severino Baldini alternated week-by-week with the Swiss/British illustrator Oliver Frey. While Baraldi's work is typified by a light brush of pale pastel colours, full screen scenes, and figures with elegant mannerist sways, Frey's favours close-up brutal scrums, dutch angles, and a baroque chiaroscuro. If Baraldi is Bronzino directing �The Age of Innocence�, Frey, influenced by British illustrators such as Frank Bellamy, is Caravaggio directing 'Cape Fear'.

The DPS is clearly NOT by Baraldi, despite the credit, and thus, the spot illustration, with its angled horizon, firm brush-strokes of gouache, and sunlit contrast pushed-to-white is definitely Oliver Frey.

A mix-up at Fleetway offices that got this sent to Italy, rather than to Ludlow? We will never know, but I'm thrilled add this striking image to my collection of Frey's work.

Gouache on paper
Image: 29.5 x 24.5 cms
Mount: 34 x 30 cms

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	Ben Heywood Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	November 2009
Last Login:	January 2026
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Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Paul Roach
Member Since 2014

Posted on 1/21/2026

A haunting piece, with the head framed by the axe. Lovely background details.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 1/22/2026

Up close and personal. Dying by your convictions is better than living as a coward for the rest of your days under religious tyranny!

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