Sir Stanley Spencer R.A.

Commissioned from the artist by Sir Henry Slesser, 1920
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 22nd November 1972, lot 70
Piccadilly Gallery, London
Mr I. Williamson, acquired from the above, September 1978
Peter Nahum, The Leicester Galleries, London
Private Collection

Leeds, Temple Newsam House, Paintings and Drawings by Stanley Spencer, 1947, cat. no.5;
Plymouth, City Museum and Art Gallery, Sir Stanley Spencer, C.B.E., R.A., 1891-1959, 1963, cat. no.11;
London, Piccadilly Gallery, Sir Stanley Spencer R.A., 1891-1959: A Collection of Paintings and Drawings, 1978, cat. no.1;
London, Royal Academy, Stanley Spencer R.A., 1980, cat. no.40, illustrated in the catalogue.

Kenneth Pople, Stanley Spencer: A Biography, Collins, London, 1991, p.195;
Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Phaidon Press, London, 1992, p.394, cat. no.33, illustrated.

Original canvas. There are faint stretcher bar marks along each edge and the canvas undulates slightly in the upper two corners. There is some minor frame abrasion along the left edge and some light craquelure to the figure's hair, which is only visible upon close inspection. What appears to be a recent varnish has been applied to the painting, which may be slightly accentuating the thinly painted areas. This work may benefit from removal of these varnish layers, and a re-varnishing with a more sympathetic surface coating. Under ultraviolet light, there appear to be scattered flecks of retouching throughout all four quadrants. Held in a painted plaster frame in fair condition. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Painted circa 1920, this was Spencer's earliest commissioned portrait.

Spencer first met Henry Slesser (later knighted and made Solicitor General to the Labour government in 1924, and then Lord Chief Justice of Appeal) and his wife Margaret at their house 'Cornerways' at Bourne End near Cookham in November 1919, when he was invited to tea along with his brother Gilbert and his patrons, Mr and Mrs Louis Behrend. In April 1920 Spencer accepted an invitation to stay with the Slessers; living at home was proving cramped, cold and lacking in the necessary peace. The Slessers provided him with a room overlooking the Thames and he painted twenty pictures in the year that he stayed there, most notably Christ Carrying the Cross (Tate Collection, London) and The Last Supper (Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham). Henry Slesser features prominently in the foreground of Spencer's monumental The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-6, Tate Collection, London). Like other friends for whom Spencer had a particular affection, he wished Slesser to be 'present' at the Resurrection.

Keith Bell describes the present work as "one of Spencer's most accomplished early portraits" (Royal Academy exhibition catalogue, op.cit., p.394). Spencer uses the same dark tones as in the arresting Tate Self-Portrait of 1914, and at the same time shows a move towards his interest in decorative background detail, which was to crowd his sitters in the portraits of the 1940s and 50s. Close attention is paid to the mouldings and texture of the fireplace, which occupies as much of the canvas as the sitter herself. Lady Slesser turns her head towards the viewer as if in mid-conversation. Her leisured pose is informal and the proximity of the fireplace implies that she is seated on the floor, or else a low stool or club fender. The subtle tones and confined space lend the portrait an intimacy not found in later commissions, where a more imposing sitter such as Dr Osmund Frank (1951, Private Collection) is seen in full mayoral splendour.

A preparatory study for this portrait is on the verso of First Study for Opening Graves for the Resurrection (circa 1920, Private Collection).