Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A.

The Artist, by whom gifted to the sitter, and thence by descent to the previous owner

Their sale, Christie's London, 6 June 2003, lot 50, where acquired by the present owner

Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Phaidon, London 1992, no. 69, p. 403, illustrated p. 324

The sitter, Clara Phyllis (Mrs Grant), was the wife of Arthur Grant of Heronsgate, and the sister-in-law of Lady Slesser, who also lived in Bourne End, Bucks. The Slessers, Henry and Margaret, were patrons of Spencer. He stayed with them at their house Cornerways in Bourne End from April 1920 - June 1921, where his painting The Last Supper hung in their boathouse. Sir Henry Slesser, a barrister and MP, served as Solicitor-General in the first Labour government and a Lord Justice of Appeal. He appeared in legal robes in Spencer’s The Resurrection, Cookham, 1924-6 (Tate). It is via the Slessers that he met Mrs Grant. The artist would often give the family pictures in lieu of an official rent payment, perhaps inclusive of the present work.

There is a signed pencil drawing of the same sitter, titled Portrait of Phyllis Grant, that was sold in these rooms on 16 June 2011. This was executed on 12 January 1921.