Gilbert Spencer:
Trees at Garsington, mid 1920's
Framed (ref: 10137)

Oil on canvas

Signed

17 3/4 x 25 in. (45 x 65 cm)

Tags: Gilbert Spencer oil landscape TOP 100 trees Gilbert Spencer

Provenance: Christie's London, British and Irish Traditionalist and Modernist Paintings, 3 & 4 March 1988, lot 220; Private collection.

Exhibited: Fine Art Society, London, Gilbert Spencer, July 1974, no.15. Fine Art Society, London, Men and Memories, 1972, no.118. Royal Academy, London, Gilbert Spencer Memorial, 1979.

In 1922 Spencer started teaching at  The Ruskin School of Art (University of Oxford). and Lady Ottoline Morrell, with whom Spencer was friendly since before the war, found him a room in the village of Garsington near Oxford. Morrell offered him easy access to her own house, Garsington Manor, which was frequented by many illustrious guests including the Bloomsbury set.  While living there, Spencer painted Trees at Garsington (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), Garsington Roofs and The Sheep Fold at Upper Farm which are described by  Catherine Martineau as having a characteristic directness of line and clarity of colour.