Study for Drying Washing (recto) and Multiple Sketches, including a predella sequence with ‘Ward 4B’, ‘Filling Tea Urns’, and ‘Sorting and Moving Kit Bags’ (verso)
Sir Stanley Spencer, RA (1891 - 1959)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1932
Materials
Pencil and wash on paper
Measurements
355 x 253 mm
Place of origin
Burghclere
Order this imageCollection
Sandham Memorial Chapel, Hampshire
NT 719807
Summary
Pencil and wash on paper, Study for Drying Washing, with three subsidiary studies (recto); Multiple Sketches, including a predella sequence with Ward 4B, Filling Tea Urns, and Sorting and Moving Kit Bags (verso) by Sir Stanley Spencer, CBE, RA (Cookham 1891– Cliveden 1959), inscribed bottom right on recto in Spencer’s own hand: 'drying washing'. The main scene (recto), highlighted in wash, is probably a working-up of the second vignette on the left in the Resurrection sketch (719807). There are three subsidiary sketches, in pencil, to the right, all showing figures in front of tent apertures. These were also probably intended for the Resurrection altarpiece. Spencer has enjoyed the decorative possibilities of the lacing on the back of the soldier's chemise, mirrored in the tent lacing (bottom right); and also the surface pattern of the puttees on the main figure and that depicted in the top vignette. Inscribed on verso: R. Wall [---] 68th FA. Corsical between Karanda [CHECK] + Kalinova. 1916 [ - - -] arches. 1 G____ . 2 Bivouacs. 3. German [?] Hosptial [------- ] And three pictures along the bottom: 1. B.L.A. Ward 4B. 2. B.L.A. Tea Urns from Kitchen. 3. B.L.A. Kitbags [B.L.A. = Beaufort Lunatic Asylum] L. Wall Top. 143 F.A. Todorovo 1917 [ - - - - - ] And three along the bottom: 1.B.L.A. Laundry. 2. B.L.A. Bread etc. scrubbing. 3. B.L.A. [?] Hosp Faces. The sketch in the middle, to the right, could possible be an early pensiero for Floor Scrubbing.
Provenance
Possibly left to the National Trust by John Louis (1881-1972) and Mary Behrend (1884 -1977), or given by George Behrend (1922 - 2010)
Credit line
The Behrend Collection, The Vyne (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Sir Stanley Spencer, RA (1891 - 1959), artist
Exhibition history
Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War, Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester, 2013 - 2015, no. ADD L2 Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War, Somerset House, London, 2013 - 2015, no. ADD L2 Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 2013 - 2015, no. ADD L2