Provenance: a gift from the artist to Mrs Millar, daughter of the
Hampstead landlord where Spencer was lodging, circa 1920; thence by
descent.
In a dark oak shallow wedge section frame with gilded inner slip.
This panel was painted directly from nature, and is typical of the
artist’s finest work en plein air. A possible identification for this
panel is Sashes Island in Cookham where Gilbert was born and grew up. A
painting of Sashes Island, dated 1919, is in the collection of Tate
Britain (N06021)
Thirteen
months younger than his more famous brother Stanley , Gilbert Spencer
studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, the Royal College of
Art (wood carving) 1911–12 and the Slade School of Fine Art (1913–15).
During
the First World War, Gilbert served with the R.A.M.C. initially at the
Beaufort Military Hospital in Bristol (with his brother Stanley, for a
short while) in Thessalonice and the Eastern Mediterranean 1915–19. He
returned to his studies at The Slade after the war (1919–20).