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Maurice de Sausmarez:
Allegory, 1938
Framed (ref: 151)
Oil on canvas, 30 x 50 in. (78 x 128 cm.)

Tags: Maurice de Sausmarez oil children flowers religion

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist's wife

In an exceptional polished fruitwood frame with gilded acorn and oakleaf knull

Allegory was painted in 1938, when De Sausmarez was a final-year student at the RCA. Essentially a modern-day narrative, the painting also refers to the life of Christ, from the moment of conception to the Agony in the Garden: the Visitation is on the right, the Nativity in the centre (with shepherds on the hills). The group on the left are possibly Pharisees and Saducees. The painting shows the influence of Stanley Spencer and his circle, evidence that his figurative legacy was still of consequence in the late 1930s. In the post-war years, like so many of his generation, De Sausmarez evolved towards an abstract style.

We are grateful to Alistair Hicks for his help in cataloguing this painting.