With his undeniable precociousness, John Perceval came to the attention of the art cognoscenti in his early teens. His elegant charm, astonishing good looks and original intelligence captivated many of the most important art figures of his time—Norman Lindsay, John and Sunday Reed, the Boyd family, Bernard Smith, Max Harris, John Brack, Charles Blackman and Clifton Pugh—providing him entree to a wider social circle that included Germaine Greer, Barry Humphries and Tim Burstall.

In this fully revised and updated analysis of his art in the context of his life, Traudi Allen shows how, despite having been positioned as the younger follower of Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker and Fred Williams, he was, in fact, sometimes the mentor. The full complexity of his work and his personality is rigorously and engagingly analysed here, in a story that is as sweet and fascinating as it is tragic.