Modern British Day Auction

Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A.

G & I. Oranges & Lemons

Artist's Resale Right

Auction Closed

June 30, 10:59 AM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A.

1891 - 1959

G & I. Oranges & Lemons

signed Stanley and dated 1944 (lower right); numbered 2/44 (upper right)

pencil on paper, squared for transfer

unframed: 40.5 by 29cm.; 16 by 11½in.

framed: 58.5 by 43cm.; 23 by 17in.

Executed in 1944.

We are grateful to Carolyn Leder for her kind assistance in cataloguing the present work.

Acquired from the Artist by The 3^rd Viscount Astor in the late 1950s

Anthony d'Offay, London, where acquired by Peregrine Pollen in 1979 and thence by descent to the present owner

Colin Hayes, The Scrapbook Drawings of Stanley Spencer, Lion and Unicorn Press, 1964, illustrated pl. 28

Carolyn Leder, Stanley Spencer: The Astor Collection, Thomas Gibson Publishing Ltd, London 1976, no. 84, illustrated p. 75

Although not portraits, the two adult figures represent Gwen Carline (‘G’) and the artist himself (‘I’). Gwen Carline (née Harter), was the widow of Hilda Spencer’s brother Sydney; she and her mother Mrs Harter looked after the Spencers’ elder daughter Shirin for many years, and for a time also their younger daughter Unity. Shirin remembered her father visiting for her birthday once, when the traditional children’s game of Oranges and Lemons was played. She was upset when her father was pulled away from her, and thought ‘He’s going again, I won’t see him. I howled and howled.’

Carolyn Leder