Provenance: Laporte plc 1940s–2004; private collection since 2004.
Literature: Paul Liss, Laporte, A History in Art, Laporte plc, London, 2000, illus. p. 8.

Laporte,
a chemical manufacturer based in Luton, commissioned a cycle of 
paintings, early in the 1940’s, to record their company history
contribution to the war effort: the production of barium peroxide and
hydrogen peroxide, essential ingredients for the manufacture of
explosive, incendiary and pyrotechnic compositions.

Barium
peroxide was produced using a long tunnel kiln, a process first
introduced during the First World War when supplies of naturally
occurring barium peroxide were in short supply.

Hydrogen
peroxide is an oxidising agent, which at high strengths causes
instantaneous ignition (at 97% concentrate it is used for rocket
propulsion). At the end of the Second World War the government handed
over to Laporte as part of a reparations programme the V-1 and V-2
production plants in Munich, where weapons incorporated high-test
hydrogen peroxide in their launch and propulsion systems. Laporte sold
the plants back to Germany in 2003.