THREE never-before-seen portraits of three siblings painted by artist John Craxton form part of a new exhibition which has opened at Salisbury Museum.

John Craxton ‘A Poetic Eye’: A life in art from Cranborne Chase to Crete explores the colourful life of the artist and shows how his art changed from dark to light as he moved across Europe.

Alys, Sophy and Denys were nine, seven and six, when the artist painted them in 1961, and since then, the portraits have been kept in the family home – until now.

Denys said: “My parents were friends with John. My father was a diplomat and we lived in Athens.

“We knew him as Johnny and he was a very charming, friendly man and we liked him very much. I think he was a bit poor so my parents commissioned him to draw the three of us. It took two to three days each and for a six year old, it was a terrible endurance test.

“We sat for two hours at a time. I had to be read to in order to keep still - the story was about a little grey rabbit.

“If we went out for a picnic or a walk, he would come and was very good company. And of course, we liked him because he was an artist, and my family love art.

“The pictures make us look rather glum but we were very lively children.

“It’s very exciting to see them alongside some of his other work – they are much more characteristic of his style than I had realised.”

Craxton was a young teenager when he moved to the Cranborne Chase to live with his uncle and aunt, Cecil and Amy Waller, in the 1930s. They lived in Farnham, a short walk from the Pitt-Rivers Museum.

Exhibition curator Ian Collins said: “They were both artists and John loved living with them and visiting the Pitt-Rivers Museum, where he was inspired by art, archaeology and the landscape of Dorset.

“Many of those things from the museum, which closed in the 60s, are now part of Salisbury Museum.”

Rejected for military service, Craxton drew his first masterpiece at 19. At one point, he moved into Alderholt mill house with another painter, EQ Nicholson, and later enjoyed a close friendship with Lucian Freud.

Exhibition curator Ian Collins said: “He always wanted to go abroad and finally got to Greece in 1946 and became a Greek painter. He loved the life, the light, the landscape and the people.

“His early work was often painted in a blackout so it was dark but he felt completely liberated in Crete, he blossomed.

“The exhibition shows his journey from the Cranborne Chase to Crete.

“The paintings are from several private collections in Dorset and Wiltshire and some public museums.”

The exhibition runs until May 7.