Fishing Boats, St Ives

Details

Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A. (1891-1959)
Fishing Boats, St Ives
oil on canvas
21 5/8 x 25 5/8 in. (55 x 65 cm.)
Painted in 1937

Provenance

Mrs Marchant, 1937.
with Goupil Gallery, London, 1939.
Jane Bennion.

Literature

K. Bell, Stanley Spencer, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, London, 1992, p. 451, no. 241, illustrated p. 184.

Exhibited

London, Piccadilly Gallery, Stanley Spencer, R.A. 1891-1959, A Collection of Paintings and Drawings, September 1978, no. 6.
London, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Stanley Spencer, 1992, no. 10, illustrated.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Spencer visited St Ives in June and July 1937 staying at The Cobbles, Harry's Court with his new wife, Patricia Preece and her companion, Dorothy Hepworth. Patricia and Stanley had married at Maidenhead Registry Office just days earlier on 29 May, however, she refused to allow him to stay in her room and the marriage effectively ended before it had begun.

Spencer wrote in his journal: 'Feeling very lost and supposed I must do some painting. It was hot and sultry and rain spots made the stones go darker. All looked faintly sinister and discomforting'. He painted a total of five canvasses of St Ives and its environs, the others being St Ives, low tide; Wet morning, St Ives; Cottage, St Ives and The Harbour, St Ives (see K. Bell, op. cit., p. 451, nos. 237-240).

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