# Stanley Spencer artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/stanley-spencer/
Profile generated: 2026-05-08T12:00:22.367Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1891-06-30
- Death date: 1959-12-14
- Nationality: English, British
- Movements: British figurative painting
- Common media: oil painting, drawing

## About Stanley Spencer

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) was an English painter celebrated for visionary Biblical scenes transposed into the streets and landscapes of Cookham, the Thames-side Berkshire village where he was born and spent most of his life. Trained at the Slade School of Fine Art, where classmates nicknamed him 'Cookham' for his devotion to the place, Spencer developed a highly personal figurative style that merged everyday English realism with spiritual intensity. His major public commissions include the murals for the Sandham Memorial Chapel, a First World War memorial now in the care of the National Trust, and the Shipbuilding on the Clyde series painted for the War Artists' Advisory Committee during the Second World War. Spencer was knighted in July 1959, shortly before his death that December. His work is held by the Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, and other major public collections worldwide.

## Common works and media

Spencer's body of work includes oil paintings on canvas and panel, pencil and ink drawings, watercolours, and preparatory sketches. Recurring subjects encompass Biblical narratives set in Cookham, portraits of family and local figures, domestic interiors, Thames Valley landscapes, and wartime scenes from both World Wars. Print editions are not a significant part of his output. Works encountered at auction range from small informal sketches and portrait studies to large-scale narrative compositions. The Sandham Memorial Chapel and Clyde shipyard series are among his most recognized bodies of work.

## Market and appraisal context

Stanley Spencer's work appears regularly at international auction, with over five hundred recorded lots. Finished oil paintings — especially those depicting Cookham religious scenes or wartime subjects — tend to attract the strongest bidder interest and the highest prices. Drawings, preparatory studies, and works on paper represent a more accessible segment but still benefit from Spencer's enduring institutional reputation. Provenance linking a work to notable exhibitions or prominent collections can meaningfully affect value. Collectors should verify medium, date, and condition, and note that the artist's large multi-figure compositions are disproportionately held in public institutions, making privately held examples from those series particularly scarce at auction.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page drew on authority files from the Library of Congress, Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, Tate, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79119224
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/74236
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-stanley-spencer-1977
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1282413
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/808564/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500006212
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Spencer
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/5562