Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, from whom commissioned by
Sir Henry Slesser, 1920
Sale; Sotheby's, London, 22 November 1972, lot 70 (as painted circa 1930)
With Piccadilly Gallery, London, September 1978, where acquired by
Mr I. Williamson
With Peter Nahum, The Leicester Galleries, London
Private Collection
Their sale; Sotheby's, London, 26 May 2010, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Leeds, Temple Newsam House, Leeds City Art Gallery, Paintings and Drawings by Stanley Spencer, 25 July-7 September 1947, cat.no.5
Plymouth, City Museum and Art Gallery, Sir Stanley Spencer C.B.E., R.A., 1891-1959, 1963, cat.no.11
London, Piccadilly Gallery, Sir Stanley Spencer R.A. 1891-1959: A Collection of Paintings and Drawings, September 1978, cat.no.1
London, The Royal Academy of Arts, Stanley Spencer R.A., 20 September-14 December 1980, cat.no.40

Literature
Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer R.A., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1980, p.59, cat.no.40 (ill.b&w)
Kenneth Pople, Stanley Spencer: A Biography, Collins, London, 1991, p.195
Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Phaidon Press in association with Christie's and The Henry Moore Foundation, London, 1992, p.394, cat.no.33 (ill.b&w)
Timothy Hyman & Patrick Wright (eds.), Stanley Spencer, Tate, 2001, p.62
Amanda Bradley, Patron Saints: Collecting Stanley Spencer, Stanley Spencer Gallery in association with Paul Holberton Publishing, 2018, p.38

Stanley Spencer achieved a remarkable, virtuoso feat with this picture of Margaret Slesser, his first commissioned portrait, painted at the age of 29. He received the commission from her husband, Henry. Stanley knew Margaret well, since he had been staying with the Slessers for some months. She comes across as a friend, with a face full of character. It is also, on the evidence of photographs, a good likeness.

Margaret is seen at a slight angle in an original and arresting composition, looking directly at the viewer, and sitting in a shallow space close to a fireplace in her house Cornerways. At various points, the figure and the fireplace are cropped along the edges, giving an immediate and spontaneous effect. The picture displays a subtle, sophisticated use of colour. A series of soft greys is echoed across the surface of the canvas, enhanced by the silvery metallic sheen of the fireplace hood. The sitter's eyes tone in with the blue-grey colour of her dress, which with a maroon belt, and decorative pattern around neck and sleeves, exemplifies 1920s fashion. Differences in texture are handled with assurance. The repoussé decoration of the fireplace surround - elegant flowing sinuous lines of flowers, bud, stalk and leaves - weaves its way through the composition.

The artist was rightly pleased with the portrait, writing in a letter on 13 January 1921, 'Harry is on the bench today at Berwick-on-Tweed. Margaret is in the armchair opposite me trying to add up her penny-bank balance and filling the whole room with swear. I am getting on with the portrait of her rather well.'

Spencer stayed with the Slessers from April 1920-June 1921. He moved from his crowded family home in Cookham to their house Cornerways in nearby Bourne End. Here he had a bedroom, a 'bright room' in which he could paint, overlooking a backwater of the Thames. Cornerways is on the Abbotsbrook Estate through which streams run into the river. Here he found peace and space to paint some twenty pictures, of which the Slessers acquired thirteen. He wrote enthusiastically of his hosts, and how he was inspired by the 'atmosphere' they created. Margaret (d.1979) was the daughter of Corrie Grant, a journalist, barrister and Liberal MP. She met Henry Slesser (1883-1979) through the Fabian Society. Henry was to enjoy a distinguished career. A barrister, he was Solicitor-General in the first Labour government in 1924, receiving a knighthood and KC. He became Labour MP for Leeds South East and a Lord Justice of Appeal. As a tribute to him, Spencer placed him in his legal robes in a prominent position in The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-6, Tate).

By the time of Spencer's stay Slesser had resigned from the Fabian Society to espouse a form of Christian Socialism. Spencer's The Last Supper (1920, Stanley Spencer Gallery), painted at the Slessers, was bought by them for their oratory on the upper floor of their wooden boathouse, where it hung as the altarpiece for many years. Also in the oratory was Spencer's Money Changers' triptych which he painted as a gift for his hosts (1921, The Art Gallery of Western Australia/Stanley Spencer Gallery).

Spencer took part in the boating and walking at Cornerways. Henry Slesser instigated a walking fraternity, wittily dedicated to St Ambulans, in which as Stanley's brother Gilbert recalled there was 'friendship with an undertone of religion and philosophy' and 'beer was the sacred beverage' (Gilbert Spencer, Stanley Spencer, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1961, p.159).

We are grateful to Carolyn Leder for compiling this catalogue entry.