‘It rained, but this didn’t stop us having our street parties,’ sums up the general mood on Tuesday 2 June 1953, when 8,000 guests were invited to Westminster Abbey (each squeezed into 18 inches of seating) to witness the Coronation of Elizabeth II, while three million people lined the procession route. As part of the celebrations, over 100 works of art were commissioned or purchased by the Government Art Collection's predecessor, the Ministry of Works from early 1953 to 1954 – many of which are by well-known British artists. Among these was Dame Laura Knight whose drawing shows a small group huddled together in blankets on the pavement in anticipation of getting a good view of the procession. Knight was created a dame in 1929; she was renowned particularly for her landscape and figure subjects, especially of scenes from the ballet, circus, music hall and theatre.
