Self-portrait fragment and studies for Zacharias and Elizabeth, 1913-14 (recto)

The oil painting, Zacharias and Elizabeth (Private Collection), 1913-14, (Bell 16), painted from memory, shows the view from the back window of the staircase landing on the second floor of Wisteria Cottage, Cookham, looking towards Cliveden Woods. Spencer explained the relevance of the painting to him, 'I wanted to absorb and finally express the atmosphere and meaning the place had for me ... It was a painting characterising and exactly expressing the life I was, at the time, living and seeing about me. It was an attempt to raise that life round me to what I felt was its true status, meaning and purpose. A version of the St. Luke passage, the gardener dragging the branch of ivy, and Mrs Gooden giving me permission to walk about the garden of the untenanted St George's Lodge, resulted in this painting ... The whole of what I hoped was dependent on the reality of everyday life'. (Tate 733.3.1). See also K. Bell, op. cit., p.387 and lots 72, 73 and 201.