Drawing, pencil on paper, 12in x 18in
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Spencer’s
mural decorations in the Sandham Memorial Chapel, 1927-1932,
commemorating his experience of military service in Bristol and
Macedonia during the First World War, are one of the great achievements
of twentieth century painting. Staying with his friend Henry Lamb in
Poole, he produced these studies, ‘a whole architectural scheme of the
pictures’. Together with other drawings, they were seen that summer by
Louis and Mary Behrend who decided to build a chapel to house the
projected paintings. It was to be a memorial to Mary’s brother,
Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham, RASC, who died from an illness
contracted on service in Macedonia. These are the much-used working
drawings for the north and south walls. There are significant
differences between the drawings and the final scheme, notably his
original intention to depict an operating theatre (N wall, third bay
from the left). |