Small Study of Lightning is a more colourful and abstract rendition of the Lightning print from Hockney’s innovative, The Weather Series, 1973. In this series, Hockney explored groundbreaking new print techniques to convey the ephemerality of various weather conditions, and created ten prints in various stylisations depicting atmospheric effects. Most of these artworks were created in the Gemini studio, Los Angeles. Hockney, alongside master printer, Kenneth Tyler, used spontaneous measures to create the dramatic effects: old pictures show Hockney as using a broomstick to press colour onto the lithographic stone. In Small Study of Lightning, Hockney depicts two white forks of lightning flashing through a foreboding mass of clouds in red and black.

Originally purchased from Kasmin gallery in 1973, the present works comes from the Estate of Richard Shepherd, C.B.E (1945-2022) - renowned Michelin-starred chef who joined forces with Michael Caine and Peter Langan in 1977 to run Langan’s Brasserie in Mayfair, at its peak the most fashionable destination in London. Caine recalled, “After a few months of working with [Langan] I realised I needed a chef who was not only brilliant but also sober, which was how Richard Shepherd became the chef and third partner at Langan’s.” A wonderful drawing of the three of them by Hockney in 1973 was sold at Sotheby's London (26 June 2018, lot 24). After Langan’s death in 1988, Shepherd took over the running of the business. He co-founded the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and was awarded a CBE for services to the catering industry in 2000.