Apperley was largely self-taught but did spend some time under Herkomer at the Bushey School of Art. In 1916, he left his British wife and family and moved to Spain; inspired by his new home, he began painting in the style known as 'Modernisme', a Catalonian take on Art Nouveau, earlier defined by artists Sanitago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas. Like his contemporary, the painter Beltran-Masses, Apperley was also influenced by Belgian Symbolism. His erotically charged paintings are often of subjects from Greek mythology, Orphic

mysteries and fantasies of Asia.

Apperley quickly came to recognition through an exhibition arranged by the Town Hall and the Centro Artistico in Grenada in 1917, including most of Spain’s leading artists, where his painting The Rose took first prize. It was at this time that he met the young Enriqueta Contreras, who was to become his second wife, and who was probably the model for our Venus. His first one-man exhibition in Spain, held in Madrid, was opened by the King and Queen of Spain in November 1918.