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Notes

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This portrait was begun when Stanley Spencer was staying in Gloucestershire on a painting holiday with friends and fellow artists Daphne and George Charlton. Stanley and Daphne embarked on an affair when her husband had to return to London at the outbreak of the war.

Daphne is painted at close quarters, expressing the intimacy between the couple. The portrait is larger than life-size, enabling Spencer to pore over every inch of her flesh. By contrast, her plain shirt is simplified into flat panels of colour.

Spencer always painted people that he had a personal engagement with. He also felt a deep association with Cookham, the village in Berkshire where he lived, which features in many of his paintings.

Abbot Hall

Kendal

Title

Portrait of Daphne Charlton

Date

1941

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 51 x W 41 cm

Accession number

LAT:1995.0006

Acquisition method

purchased with the assistance of the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of Abbot Hall, 1994

Work type

Painting

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Abbot Hall

Kirkland, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 5AL England

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