Britain’s ‘Sistine Chapel’ comes to London

War memorial paintings by Stanley Spencer in new show
23 September 2013

Poignant paintings considered the crowning achievement of war artist Stanley Spencer are to go on display in London for only the second time since they were completed.

The sequence of works, conceived as the artist’s response to his experience of the First World War, are normally housed in the Sandham Memorial Chapel, described as “Britain’s answer to the Sistine Chapel”.

They are to be shown at Somerset House while the National Trust carries out important restoration work at the Berkshire property.

Spencer worked as a hospital orderly in Bristol and the Balkans during the First World War.

Amanda Bradley, assistant curator for the National Trust which runs the chapel, said his paintings are a vision of “heaven in a hell of war”, depicting menial tasks such as making tea.

They combine the realism of everyday life with dream-like visions drawn from his imagination. Ms Bradley added: “Sandham Memorial Chapel is one of the greatest glories of art in northern Europe. It is Stanley Spencer’s masterpiece and is arguably one of the greatest modern British artistic schemes ever conceived.”

A couple, John Louis and Mary Behrend, paid £8,000 to help Spencer paint the works, completed in 1932 after six years’ work.

The chapel built to house them was later dedicated to Mrs Behrend’s brother, Harry Sandham, who died of an illness contracted during the war. Ms Bradley said it was appropriate the works should be seen in London, where Spencer had hoped they would be. They were last exhibited in the capital at the major Spencer retrospective at the Royal Academy in 1980.

The central altar piece of the chapel was painted directly onto canvases on the wall and cannot be moved but will be projected into a room during the exhibition at Somerset House.

Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War will run from November 7 to January 26, 2014, admission free.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in