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Lot Essay
Between 1932 and 1938, Spencer's ouput of landscape pictures was at its highest. He completed a group of landscape and still life oil paintings specifically of Cookham and the surrounding area, while living at 'Lindworth', the substantial Victorian villa in the middle of Cookham, which he had bought with the proceeds of the sale of The Resurrection,(1924-27, Tate Gallery, London). The Greenhouse is one such composition which was painted in his favoured 20 x 30 inch canvas format and concentrated on this local subject. The present work follows the artist's common practice during this period in painting a closely observed and highly detailed flowerpiece against a receding background. An earlier painting, Greenhouse and Garden (1937; Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull) shows a view through the door of the greenhouse at 'Lindworth', with a plait of onions dominating the composition. Spencer had lived there from 1932; in 1937 he made over the title of the house to his second wife Patricia Preece (later Lady Spencer), however, he was forced to leave Cookham in October of the following year when the house was sold. It would seem likely that the present composition also shows the greenhouse at 'Lindworth'. Two other paintings exist with comparable titles from this period, Greenhouse Interior or Greenhouse (circa 1935; private collection) and Cactus in Greenhouse, Cookham Dene (1938; private collection).
Sir Gerald Kelly, President of the Royal Academy from 1949-1954 proved to be a sympathetic and helpful patron to Spencer. He diffused the threat of a prosecution for obscenity which Sir Alfred Munnings, the former president, had instigated. Kelly's first act on gaining the presidency was to encourage Spencer to rejoin the Academy. It was in 1938, the date of the present composition, that Kelly was commissioned to paint the state portraits of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, which, following the outbreak of World War II, he worked on at Windsor Castle until 1945, when they were at last finished, exhibited at the Academy, and Kelly was knighted. Sir Gerald and Lady Kelly also owned a painting entitled Begonias (1938; private collection), which shows the interior of a greenhouse with begonias, but not necessarily the same interior of the present composition. Begonias was sold in this Rooms on 6 June 1991, lot 60A (£77,000).
Sir Gerald Kelly, President of the Royal Academy from 1949-1954 proved to be a sympathetic and helpful patron to Spencer. He diffused the threat of a prosecution for obscenity which Sir Alfred Munnings, the former president, had instigated. Kelly's first act on gaining the presidency was to encourage Spencer to rejoin the Academy. It was in 1938, the date of the present composition, that Kelly was commissioned to paint the state portraits of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, which, following the outbreak of World War II, he worked on at Windsor Castle until 1945, when they were at last finished, exhibited at the Academy, and Kelly was knighted. Sir Gerald and Lady Kelly also owned a painting entitled Begonias (1938; private collection), which shows the interior of a greenhouse with begonias, but not necessarily the same interior of the present composition. Begonias was sold in this Rooms on 6 June 1991, lot 60A (£77,000).