John Whitlock Codner (1913-2008)

Maurice Frederick Codner, RP, ROI (1888–1958) was born in London, and attended the Colchester School of Art. Under Munnings' influence, Codner was persuaded to give up 'his safety job and risk being a portrait-painter.' Codner enjoyed considerable success as a society portraitist, exhibiting numerous times at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and elsewhere. Among his notable public successes were a portrait of George VI painted in 1951, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, which won the silver medal at the Paris Salon in 1954.