Sir Stanley Spencer CBE RA,

British 1891-1959 -

'The Resurrection, Cookham', 1920-21;

oil and pencil on paper laid down on board, 30.9 x 43.8 cm (ARR)

Provenance:

Henry Lamb (1883 -1960);

Lady Pansy Lamb (1904-1999);

Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd, London no.6490;

Sir Frederick Hooper (1914-1989);

Dudley William Tooth (1896-1972);

Thence by descent

Exhibition:

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 'Stanley Spencer', 20 September - 14 December 1980, cat. no.55;

Tate Britain, London, 'Stanley Spencer', 22nd March - 24th June 2001, no.33;

Literature:

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 'Stanley Spencer', 1980, cat. no.55, p.75(illus);

Keith Bell, 'Stanley Spencer', Phaidon, 2004, p.50-51 (illus. in colour);

Tate Britain, London, 'Stanley Spencer', 2001, no.33 p.118(illus. in colour);

Note:

The Resurrection is perhaps Spencer's most important theme, re-positioning the Biblical narrative of the Last Days to the present day setting of his beloved hometown of Cookham. There is a gentle atmosphere to the scene, with the dramatic translated into the colloquial; for Spencer the divine existed in the everyday.

It is remarkable that the painting was first owned by the artist Henry Lamb, who was a friend and patron of Spencer and the pair had met in 1913. Both artists Lamb and Stanley Spencer joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and were stationed at times in Macedonia. Spencer's masterpiece and perhaps most famous work, 'The Resurrection, Cookham, 192427' (Tate Gallery) was made in a studio borrowed from Lamb in 1922, suggesting why he owned the present work.

There is a label on the reverse of the board with Spencer's note of the painting, which reads, 'Small Study for the Resurrection. In this I discover the meaning of the people leaning on head-stones'.

Spencer would return to the theme repeatedly in his career, most notably in the major composition 'The Resurrection of Soldiers', 1928-29' for Burghclere Chapel. Other key examples include 'The Resurrection, Cookham, 192427' (Tate Galleries), 'The Resurrection of the Good and Bay, 1915' and Port Glasgow Resurrection, 1947-50' (Tate Galleries).