Gilbert Spencer
Garsington, 1924
Oil on canvas laid onto board
20 x 37 in. (51 x 94 cm)
Signed and dated ‘G SPENCER / 1924’ lower right
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Primarily a landscape painter, Gilbert Spencer’s artwork celebrates the beauty of the British countryside, often taking inspiration from the landscapes...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Primarily a landscape painter, Gilbert Spencer’s artwork celebrates the beauty of the British countryside, often taking inspiration from the landscapes of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset and the Lake District. This landscape - a triumph of complimentary colours which evoke the turning of the season - depicts the scenic village of Garsington, Oxfordshire.
Recently, another version of this painting has been identified in a photograph, hanging in the home of the audacious society hostess and patron of the arts, Lady Ottoline Morrell [Fig. 1].[1] Morrell lived at Garsington Manor and helped Spencer settle into the village of Garsington when he first moved there. She played a critical role in introducing Spencer to the likeminded, artistic individuals who frequented gatherings at her home. Visitors to the old Oxfordshire manor house were so welcomed by the owners that some would stay for months on end. Artists, writers, poets and creatives such as W. J. Turner, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, David Garnett, Dora Carrington, Dorothy Brett and Siegfried Sassoon all visited Ottoline’s Oxfordshire home. In her memoir, Morrell described Garsington Manor as ‘a theatre, where week after week a travelling company would arrive and play their parts’. Placed in the heart of this creative storm of people who gathered at Garsington Manor, this image exudes a nostalgic portrayal of British inter-war bliss.
The Morrells’s legacy is also preserved through this landscape; the lettering on the cart at the far right of the composition reads ‘PHILIP MORREL GARSINGTON’, referring to Ottoline’s husband. This touching ode to Philip and Ottoline is a reminder of the importance of patrons within the arts, both to the artists they support and the legacy they leave behind.
[1] See the NPG (NPG Ax142414) Available at: https://www.npg.org.uk/collect... (Accessed: 18/05/2021).
Primarily a landscape painter, Gilbert Spencer’s artwork celebrates the beauty of the British countryside, often taking inspiration from the landscapes of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset and the Lake District. This landscape - a triumph of complimentary colours which evoke the turning of the season - depicts the scenic village of Garsington, Oxfordshire.
Recently, another version of this painting has been identified in a photograph, hanging in the home of the audacious society hostess and patron of the arts, Lady Ottoline Morrell [Fig. 1].[1] Morrell lived at Garsington Manor and helped Spencer settle into the village of Garsington when he first moved there. She played a critical role in introducing Spencer to the likeminded, artistic individuals who frequented gatherings at her home. Visitors to the old Oxfordshire manor house were so welcomed by the owners that some would stay for months on end. Artists, writers, poets and creatives such as W. J. Turner, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, David Garnett, Dora Carrington, Dorothy Brett and Siegfried Sassoon all visited Ottoline’s Oxfordshire home. In her memoir, Morrell described Garsington Manor as ‘a theatre, where week after week a travelling company would arrive and play their parts’. Placed in the heart of this creative storm of people who gathered at Garsington Manor, this image exudes a nostalgic portrayal of British inter-war bliss.
The Morrells’s legacy is also preserved through this landscape; the lettering on the cart at the far right of the composition reads ‘PHILIP MORREL GARSINGTON’, referring to Ottoline’s husband. This touching ode to Philip and Ottoline is a reminder of the importance of patrons within the arts, both to the artists they support and the legacy they leave behind.
[1] See the NPG (NPG Ax142414) Available at: https://www.npg.org.uk/collect... (Accessed: 18/05/2021).
Provenance
From the collection of Dr. John Birch;J.L. Behrend;
Sotheby's, 25th May 1983, Lot 124;
Private collection;
Private collection.