Sir Stanley Spencer

Terry’s Lane, Cookham

c.1932

© Estate of Stanley Spencer

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Not on display

Artist: Sir Stanley Spencer 1891–1959
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 508 × 762 mm
frame: 660 × 910 × 70 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1933
Reference: N04678

Display caption

Spencer shows a keen sense of detail in this composition. Painting minute strands of grass and individual leaves on trees, he reveals his familiarity and love for the countryside. In the background we can glimpse white-washed houses with red brick roofs, which are characteristic of homes in this area from the 1900s. Spencer and his brother Gilbert would regularly walk Terry’s Lane in Cookham as children. A typical British country path lined with shrubs and trees, the brothers took the route which led to a railway bridge, where they could watch passing trains.

Gallery label, November 2021

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Catalogue entry

N04678 TERRY'S LANE, COOKHAM c. 1932

Not inscribed.
Canvas, 20×30 (51×76·5).
Purchased from the artist through Arthur Tooth & Sons (Clarke Fund) 1933.
Exh: Temple Newsam, Leeds, July–September 1947 (19), as c. 1930.

The artist wrote (15 August 1951) that this work was painted about 1932. Gilbert Spencer told the compiler (26 October 1961) that Terry's Lane was a regular childhood walk of his brother and himself, its special attraction being that it enabled one to reach the railway bridge.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II