Sir Stanley Spencer R.A. 1891-1959

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Description

Sir Stanley Spencer R.A.
Portrait of Patricia Preece
oil and pencil on canvas
50.5 by 40.5cm., 20 by 16in.

Provenance

The Artist's Studio

Acquired by the present owner from the Odney Club selling exhibition, May 1969

Exhibited

Cookham, Odney Club, Exhibition of Important Unfinished Works by the Late Sir Stanley Spencer, 1969, no.6.

Literature

Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Phaidon, London, 1992, no.155, p.430, illustrated.

Catalogue Note

Spencer first met Patricia Preece in Cookham in 1929 but it was not until 1932, when Spencer returned from working at Burghclere, that their relationship became intimate. The affair led to Spencer's divorce from Hilda and the courting couple were later married in 1937. According to Keith Bell, ''Spencer must have painted this portrait some time between 1933 and 1937, at the height of his intimacy with Patricia'' (op.cit., p.430). The fact that she is shown here wearing a wedding or engagement ring may however support the later dating, especially since the finished 1933 Portrait of Patricia Preece (coll. Southampton Art Gallery) clearly shows her left hand to be ring-free.