Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A. (1891-1959)

Sir Henry (later Lord Justice Slesser) was an important early patron of Sir Stanley Spencer. Living a few miles from Cookham at Bourne End the Slesser's house contained a private oratory for which Spencer painted The Last Supper, 1920 (Stanley Spencer Gallery) and The Money Changers triptych. Spencer lived with the Slessers for a year from April 1919 and he was given a room overlooking the Thames. (See K. Bell, Stanley Spencer: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, London, 1992, pp. 56, 394).

Keith Bell has suggested that the sitter of this portrait may be a grandson of Sir Henry Slesser. We are very grateful to Keith Bell for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot.