London – By the 1950s, the British painter Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) was established as one of the country's leading artists. A man of prodigious gifts, he was known not only for his hugely imaginative works on biblical themes, often set in his home village of Cookham, but also for his work as an official war artist in both conflicts, his landscape paintings and his portraits. A wonderful example of the latter leads Bonhams Modern British and Irish Art sale in London on Wednesday 22 June. Painted in 1958, Mrs Linda Few Brown has an estimate of £250,000-350,000.

The portrait was commissioned – possibly as a late wedding gift - by the sitter's mother, Dorothy Milling, who also suggested the pose of her daughter leaning over the stable-style door. On her marriage in 1955, Linda had moved to Cookham Dean and so she and her husband Peter were near neighbours of the artist. The work took a month of sittings to complete. Each day Linda would collect Spencer from his home in Cookham Rise on her Vespa scooter – sometimes stopping on the way at the local bakery to collect some of the cream cakes to which the artist was especially partial. At the end of the working day, she would drive Spencer back home having also provided him with lunch. Not surprisingly, the two became friends and when the work was finished, and Mrs Milling attempted to pay more than the agreed fee of 275 guineas, Spencer point blank refused.

Stanley Spencer at work on the portrait of Mrs Linda Few Brown
Mrs Linda Few Brown was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1959 since when it has not been seen in public. At the time the portrait was singled out by The News Chronicle for its depth of insight, reproducing it over the caption THE 'GIRL WITH CHARACTER.'

Penny Day, Bonhams Head of Modern British and Irish Art, said: "This striking painting is one of Spencer's finest late portraits and exhibits many of the characteristics that make his work so compelling. He was a master of composition and here he frames Linda with architectural features and provides a view into the interior of the house. With his love of pattern, he has dwelt on lines and curves: contrasting the stripes of Linda's top, and the grooves between the planks of the door, with the swirls of the intricate door knocker and the calligraphic depiction of her hair."

Writing in the summer edition of Bonhams Magazine, the writer and art critic Mark Hudson said: "The two sides of Spencer the artist, the visionary outsider and the brilliantly accomplished craftsman, come together in his portrait of Mrs Linda Few Brown. Like his later admirer David Hockney, who modelled himself strongly on Spencer in his early career, old Stanley knew exactly how and when to show the common touch, both as an artist and a man."

23 May 2022