Lot Essay
Apart from Spencer's tiny landscape sketch book (Tate Archives), he had almost no chance of image making in the army, so the present work is a very rare portrait study of his fellow soldiers during the Macedonian campaign during the First World War. The sitter, Edward Brooks V.C. (1883 - 1944) was a Company Sergeant Major in the 2⁄4th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during the First World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917.
We are very grateful to Professor Keith Bell for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.