Cookham (1914)

Stanley Spencer

oil on canvas

Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Dimensions:

44.8 x 34.5 cm

Accession Number:

1954.102.2

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1954

Scheme:

Sir Edward Marsh Bequest (1953)

Ownership history:

Purchased by Sir Edward Marsh (1872-1953), 1914; by whom bequeathed to the Contemporary Art Society, 1953; presented to Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle, 1954

Relationship:

Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle Edward 'Eddie' Howard Marsh

Subject:

Landscape

This is one of Stanley Spencer's first pure landscape paintings and was painted direct from nature. The sharply lit colours and elevated perspective suggest a debt to the works of the Pre-Raphaelites. It shows the countryside around the artist's native village, Cookham in Berkshire. The view is from Terry's Lane to Winter Hill and Rowborough. The red dash below the horizon is a railway signal. The railway, which cuts across the picture, transformed this part of the Thames into a busy summer resort. Stanley's brother, Gilbert, recalled that Terry's Lane and the railway bridge was a popular childhood walk for the two brothers.

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