Southwold

Artist Sir Stanley Spencer (Cookham, England, 1891 - 1959)

Date1937

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 57.9 cm, Width: 89.9 cm
Frame: Height: 67.5 cm, Width: 97.9 cm, Depth: 6.7 cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 1938 with income from the Macdonald Bequest.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG003831

Keywords

About MeStanley Spencer's art stands apart from the current modern movements of his day. His imaginative compositions reinvented Biblical themes in a contemporary setting, usually in his native village of Cookham which lies on the River Thames. However, since his landscapes were more successful commercially, Spencer was pressurised into painting them by his dealer.

The artist had first visited Southwold in 1924, when staying with his wife-to-be Hilda Carline, at the nearby village of Wangford and in the following year they returned to Wangford to be married. Spencer and Hilda were divorced early in 1937 but after a very brief and unsuccessful second marriage he urged Hilda to go back with him to Wangford, hoping to achieve a reconciliation. When she refused he went on his own, staying at the lodgings where they had spent their honeymoon. He began this composition on the day after his arrival.

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