Sir Stanley Spencer R.A.

(British, 1891-1959)

The Nativity 28 x 38.2 cm. (11 x 15 in.)

Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
Whereabouts unknown until
Ian Hollick, 1966
With Arthur Tooth & Son, London, 1972, where purchased by
Maurice Hussey
Peter Blake
With Waddington Galleries, London
With Gillian Jason Gallery, London, where purchased by the present owner, 28 October 1986

EXHIBITED:
London, Arthur Tooth & Sons, British Paintings 1900-1971, 13 June-8 July 1972, cat.no.6

LITERATURE:
Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1992, p.522, cat.no.454 (ill.b&w)

The present work was probably painted in 1912, the same year Spencer completed a much larger version of The Nativity (Slade School of Fine Art collection), which he entered for the Slade Summer Composition Prize of 1912 and which was awarded the Nettleship prize for figure painting, an honour shared with Gilbert Solomon. While the two Nativities are of the same subject, they bear little resemblance to each other, except for their common setting in Cookham and interest in Italian Quattrocento religious works. At this time, Spencer often made small oil studies on board or pencil-and-wash studies on paper for major works, notably his Study for Joachim among the Shepherds (oil on paper, 22.2 x 15.9 cm.), also probably painted in 1912. Perhaps we have something similar here. If that's the case, then he clearly was not happy with the composition and continued to experiment with other ways of managing the relationship between the worshippers and the birth scene. Indeed, he was still dissatisfied with the appearance of the Christ child in the Slade painting thirty years later (Tate 733.2.85).

In the smaller Nativity, Spencer chose an architectural setting divided roughly down the middle to show interior and exterior, much like Pierro's Urbino Flagellation and Arezzo Annunciation, works Spencer could consult in his Gowans and Grey illustrated art book. The setting, possibly the exterior of the boathouse on the left and the interior of Ovey's barn on the right, follows his usual pattern of using familiar Cookham scenes for his religious paintings.

We are grateful to Professor Keith Bell for compiling this catalogue entry.