A MAJOR exhibition of work by one of Britain’s most exceptional, but overlooked 20th-century artists, Rex Whistler, gets under way tomorrow at the home of his final great artwork, created before he was killed in action in World War Two.

On show at the National Trust’s Mottisfont in Hampshire until April 23, Rex Whistler: More than Murals explores the talents of this extraordinary artist – creator of Mottisfont’s stunning trompe l’oeil wall paintings, but also a far wider range of work.

The show borrows work from Plas Newydd, the Whistler Archive at the Salisbury Museum and the Welsh Guards regimental headquarters. From large-scale paintings to working designs, sketches and some personal items, this is chance to see rarely-displayed material by one of the country’s most celebrated creators of painted illusions, a talent cut tragically short by war.

Over 70 items are on display in Mottisfont’s gallery. Some of Whistler’s best-known works will be on show, including his oil studies of Lady Caroline Paget, with whom he had a difficult and complicated love affair.

Best known for the awe-inspiring murals at Plas Newydd and Tate Britain, as well as Mottisfont, he was also an imaginative set-designer, an illustrator for books and advertisements, and an acclaimed portrait artist.

He was a precocious talent, drawing with incredible skill from an early age, shown in juvenilia which will be displayed alongside his later works. As a young man, he was much sought after socially as a witty, elegant character, moving in bohemian circles with other Bright Young Things such as Cecil Beaton.

His artistic career lasted only until his tragic death in the Second World War, in 1944, but he has left a legacy of extraordinarily varied work. Mottisfont’s exhibition touches on all aspects of his creative output, demonstrating his artistic development and powerful imagination, with touches of humour.

See nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont or call 01794 340757.