irolamo Pieri Nerli (1860-1926) was a skilled and versatile painter who could turn his hand to portraits and figure compositions as well as landscapes. Therefore, it is not surprising that he received several portrait commissions while in Dunedin between 1893 and 1896. The most notable of these was for a large 1894 oil painting of Dr Stuart (Otago Girls’ High School), but he also did smaller, informal portraits of fellow artists and writers such as this watercolour of J. Douglas Perrett. In this case we know he gave it to Perrett as a wedding present. It was almost certainly not a commission,
