Sandham Memorial Chapel - Spencer’s ambition made manifest

On the very last leg of my 3month&3,000mile trip around Britain in my Bongo I dropped in at the newly re-opened Sandham Memorial Chapel, arguably one of English arts greatest achievements of the 20th century and known as Britain’s answer to the Sistine Chapel yet it still remains one of the country’s best kept art secrets.

Sandham Chapel

It was delight to see the works in their original setting after thier travels around the country which I wrote about in an earlier post – London’s Somerset House and Chichester’s The Pallant House -  while the Chapel was being renovated.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the Chapel on a number of occasion yet its scale, its composition, its colour, its multitude of figures and varied scenes  never ceases to amaze , surprise and delight.

Spencer’s ambition is vast, examplified by The Resurrection of the Soldiers – a year in the making – a huge jaw dropping work covering the alter wall with eye-catching detail everywhere, an amazing work.

The Resurrection of there Soldiers

Contemplating the head of a man with a thick, bushy moustache in the corner of the The Resurrection of the Soldiers and thinking is this the only moustache in the entire work ? It occurred to me that the only figure I recognised in the whole scheme was Spencer. I wasn’t aware of the identities of any of the soldiers not even the lone officer in the entire scheme as well as this lone moustachioed man.

The Resurrection of the Soldiers (Detail)

Spencer has included local people in his paintings, so surely there are some known characters in the Chapel's scheme?  For example Spencer used the local carpenter (also the father of one of the volunteers who run the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham) as the model for the man with the nails in his mouth in  The Crucifixion, 1958.

(LEFT) The Cookham carpenter Spencer used as a model for the figure (RIGHT) in The Crucifixion 1958 

All the great frescos of fourteen and fifteenth century Italy contain portraits of the artist's patron and family along with other contemporary elites as well as the artist's own self-portrait acting like a signature. And Spencer acknowledged the influence of those italian artist on his work and is reported to have said - What ho, Giotto! - on being given the chapel commission .

As a minimum those Italian Renaissance artists had the conceit of having themselves in the picture , often staring out directly – proudly - at the viewer for example: Ghirlandaio in The Resurrection of the Boy 1485; Da Fabriano , Adoration of Magi 1423 and one of my very favourites Gozzoli’s Procession of the Magi 1459.

Ghirlandaio in The Resurrection of the Boy (Detail)1485

Da Fabriano , Adoration of Magi (Detail) 1423

Benozzo Gozzoli appears no less than six times in his work, most audaciously wearing a red patrician hat with the words Opus Benotii (Benozzo's Work) around the brim. Spencer doesn’t have his name on any hat or helmut, nevertheless he too appears a number of times in the Chapel.

Gozzoli Procession of the Magi (Detail) 1459

Spencer seems to paint himself into almost every panel in the Chapel, as there are small boyish solider figures in nearly every scene, all the figures look similar to other known diminutive youthful  images of himself.

Spencer making his bed in Bedmaking 

Spencer contemplating Christ on the Cross
The Resurrection of the Soldiers (Detail)

Spencer getting his kit ready for inspection
Kit Inspection (Detail)

Spencer grooming himself
Tea in the Hospital Ward (Detail)

Making a protective firre barrier
Firebelt (Detail)

There is one telling difference between those Italian painters’ self-portraits within their paintings and Spencer’s -  they stare, defiantly back at the viewer. Spencer is not so arrogant, when he paints himself he invariably is doing something, some action, not standing idly by, as an on looker unlike the Italians, he's never static or idle.

And there’s one great absence from the whole of the Chapel’s magnificent scheme viz. a portrait of Lieutenant Henry Willoughby to whom the Chapel is dedicated. I can’t understand why the Behrend’s didn’t write this into the contract as they were people given to contracts evidenced by the letter detailing the terms they let Spencer have ‘Breach Cottage’.

Dear Stanley
As you are now about to move into “Breach Cottage” I think it is best to put in writing the terms on which this cottage is let to you, viz. the rent is to be 7/6 per week, you to pay rates and taxes & to keep the cottage in tenantable order and condition & the garden properly cultivated. The tenancy to be terminable by either party by three months notice in writing.
                               Yours sincerely

              Letter from his patron J L Berhend to Spencer dated 22nd Jan 1926

So it would have been logical for there to have been a request to include an image of the Lieutenant in the work - somewhere. In fact it would be all to convinienet to believe that the only officer in the scheme – on the horse in Map-Reading - was in fact him but I can find no evidence to support this possibility, so it will remain a fanciful thought

Map-Reading (Detail)

I very much enjoyed seeing the works but I have to admit I was disappointed in the renovation along with the new access the National Trust has given to the Chapel. The parking is still as poor as ever and having to go around the back only to make one’s way to the front seems so unnecessary.

Garden at the Rear of Sandham Chapel

They are developing a garden to be a remembrance space, whose design to my eye looks out of place with the building. The garden looks far too stark and modern with its drifts of colour and regimented beds interspersed with austere formal benches. I would have expected something a little more homely and cosy in keeping with Spencer’s style. Happily they left the wild flower meadow and fruit trees at the front of the building.

Having negotiated three very tiny rooms - an introduction to the work and Spencer,  a small , but interesting, display of drawings, plans and correspondence related to the Chapel and Spencer’s work and  video (on a loop) introducing the Chapel – one exits the building by a side door then one goes actually into the Chapel via the main door, looking all its years surprised they haven’t restored or at least conserved it.

Adults £10......

And then there’s the entry price £10 (inc optional £1 gift tax) , last time I was there two years ago it was £4. I know we’ve had some 'improvements',  inflation and these are great works but a 150% increase seems harsh. There is an ‘offer’ for a family of four of an eye popping £25 – I guess giving the kids cultural capital has its price. The £5 entry fee with kids under 16 free at the Spencer Gallery in Cookham seems a good deal!

To conclude set aside the entry fee and the poor renovation the work is simply magnificent - Spencer’s ambition made manifest.

Before You Ask AI You Have to Know the Answer

Mural in RA Cafe 

I was in the Royal Academy of Arts café, having just visited the brilliant Kerry James Marshall: The Histories — more on that in another blog — when my eye was drawn to a huge mural on the back wall. It looked very much like the work of Stanley Spencer... an artist I hugely admire... but it didn’t quite look 'right', so I asked ChatGPT. Here’s the result (a screenshot from my iPhone):

I wasn't fully convinced. Was ChatGPT hallucinating aka lying?....

The boys in the left hand corner of the Mural certainly put me in mind of Spencer's  figures, for example in the boys in  Spencer's monumental work at Sandham Memorial Chapel which I've written about an earlier post on this blog  It was the roundness, the form and colouring of the heads all that made me think of Spencer. 

RA Cafe Mural (detail)

Sandham Memorial Chapel (detail)

But that central image of the artist working on his canvas gave me doubts. 

I was not as confident as ChatGPT that this was Stanley Spencer’s work. It felt the figure was too weak in form, and lacking proportion or perspective - it just wasn’t 'right' - the limbs didn't work for me. The artist looks as though the artist he's struggling to paint. This can’t be Stanley. Look at the modelling and forms of the horses and soldiers in the Sandham Memorial Chapel — all well proportioned and in the correct perspective. There, all the figures look 'right' unlike that artist figure in the RA Mural.

RA Cafe Mural (detail)

Sandham Memorial Chapel (detail)

So, I had my doubts despite Chat GPT's confidence that this was 'one of the nicest surprises in the RA'.

Many years ago, I was a custodian at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham. In fact, it was there that my art history and cultural practice really began. On a whim, right there and then  I phoned one of the custodians who I hadn't contacted for years and  to my great surprise, they answered! We had a lovely conversation; the years just rolled away. And they confirmed my suspicions: this wasn’t by Stanley Spencer at all  - in fact it was a Spencer but a Gilbert Spencer, Stanley's younger brother.

There's irony here as Stanley Spencer himself had a huge public fallout with the Royal Academy of Arts after they rejected his work for the Summer Exhibition in 1935. In protest, he resigned from the RA. It took fifteen years for the Academy to reverse that decision and reinstate Stanley as a full Academician.

ChatGPT, with all its gushing honesty and love, got it wrong - spectacularly wrong - yes it was a Spencer just the wrong one! 

To conclude AI is a great tool, a willing and very capable assistant but you still need your eye, your memory, your doubt.....and sometimes, a phone call to an old friend!

ArtEverywhere - Stanley Spencer's Neighbours

Stanley Spencer, Domestic Scenes: Neighbours 1936 , Oil on canvas 76 by 51 cm

I am a big fan of Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) the visionary, multi faceted  English artist , so much so I help out as a volunteer or custodian as we are called at his eponymous Gallery in Cookham, Berkshire, England.

Spencer’s popularity has increased in recent years reflected in the fact, his Neighbours 1936 was voted one of Britain’s favourite works of art  in the Art Everywhere project.

So the public and I had the chance to see Neighours on billboards all over the country.

I was lucky enough to find Neighbours twice on a trip into London last night:

In the Tunnel connection Charring Cross Tube Station to its Railway Station

At the end of the platform of Euston Square Tube Station

ArtEverywhere is a brilliant idea - putting great works of art voted for by the public on billboards all over the country. The 50 works which made the short list  range from the abstract of Bridget Riley's Blaze 4 to the historical figurative of John William Waterhouse's The Lady of Shallot , demonstrating how popular Art is in general and Spencer in particular. 

Stanley Spencer's Heaven in Hell of War Hangings Compared

View of Sandham Memorial Chapel

While Sandham Memorial Chapel is being renovated and updated the National Trust has sent its removable works on road in the form of an exhibition - Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War.

I had the pleasure of seeing again the exhibition at Pallant House Gallery, having first seen it at Somerset House last year. It was an opportunity to not only once again to enjoy Spencer’s visionary masterpieces close up, but also to compare the hanging of the two exhibitions.

Much has been written about the paintings in the exhibition. I do not believe I can add more, so I direct the reader to some of the online reviews: Culture24 on Pallant House Gallery Exhibition, The Guardian and The Telegarph  on Somerset House

What intrigued me was the how the different hangings  - Somerset House and Pallant House Gallery - created very different aesthetic effects.

Somerset House 

Somerset House
Resurrection

Somerset House chose to emulate The Sandham Memorial Chapel in a smaller space, with bright, direct lighting in contrast to the subdued, natural light of the Chapel. Being so close, with such good lighting gave the works a newer fresher appearance, looking as though they might have been recently cleaned. The result of the Somerset hanging was a very effective re-enactment of the Chapel with much better, closer viewing opportunities. The presentation of the Resurrection altarpiece was masterful, this was entered through a narrow entrance at the end of the main nave like exhibition space.  There was a projection of the Resurrection image on to the wall as shown in the picture (right), the space looked purpose made for presenting Spencer’s masterpiece.

Pallant House Gallery Resurrection

The Pallant House Gallery hanging in contrast choose not to present the Resurrection not as one image , instead used a detail from it on a wall marking  the entrance to their exhibition. No  attempt was made to recreate the Chapel space.  They separated the predellas from the lunettes into two rooms. This division immediately created a totally different aesthetic from Somerset House. Here we had an exhibition of an artist’s work over two rooms in two different canvas formats, all presented very convienently at eye level.

Pallant House Gallery Predellas

Pallant House Gallery Lunettes


Pallant House Gallery Lunettes

The effect was very different from Somerset house.  The Pallent House Gallery hanging seemed to bring one even closer to the paintings, encouraging individual comparison one work with another. While Somerset House in bringing the works together in one space attempting to reconstruct a brightly lit version of Sandham created its own aesthetic, very different from that of The Pallent House hang.

Which was better? Hard to say, certainly Someset House recreation was dramatic bringing one close to the work as whole, while  I felt the Pallant House Gallery gave us the chance to consider  each work individually, in its own right. I would argue that each hanging has its merits and together form an excellent introduction to Sandham Memorial Chapel when it reopens for visitors in July this year.

View of Sandham Memorial Chapel

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Lorenzo Lotto Portraits Exhibition at the National Gallery 05 Nov 2018 to 10 Feb 2019 FREE

Matthias Wivel explaining Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Lady as Lucretia

I wasn’t a great fan of Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1557), I much preferred his much better known and much celebrated contemporaries: Raphael (1483-1520), Titian (1488-1576) and of course Michelangelo (1475-1564) my all-time favourite artist. So, when I went to see the National Gallery’s Lorenzo Lotto Portraits exhibition which brings together Lotto’s portraits spanning his entire career, I wasn’t expecting much. I could not have been more wrong.

I found Lorenzo Lotto Portraits a profoundly moving, learning and exciting  experience; I was deeply moved by the quality of Lotto’s portraiture, I learned something very new to me about the framing of paintings from the period, and was really excited to see another innovatively curated exhibition from the brilliant Matthias Wivel the National’s curator of its 16th century Italian paintings. 

Twenty-eight of Lotto’s portraits are presented in chronological over four rooms of the National’s ground floor gallery space. Room one explores Lotto’s work from his time in Treviso (1503-06), room two has his portraits from Bergamo (1513-49), room three those from his time in Venice (1525-49) and finally room 4 is dedicated to his late works.

The Portraits

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman with Gloves (liberale da Pinedel)

Each of Lotto’s portrait has a personality I’d never noticed in his work before, in contrast to his contemporaries Lotto was painting the person not the position. Portraits by Titian and Veronese were monumental, designed to show the status and gravitas of the sitter. Lotto on the other hand seems to reach into the person’s soul capturing their humanity. 

Quoting Bernard Berenson the art historian, who in 1895 wrote in the first monograph on Lotto: [he] was the first Italian painter who was sensitive to the varying status of the human soul. Never before or since has anyone brought out on the face more of the inner life….

I would not go so far, I would look to Leonardo for that crown and later there’s Velasquez, Rembrandt and others. I would however agree with Matthias more measured consideration of Lotto’s portraits, to him they ‘feel more direct, less filtered, than those of his contemporaries notably Titian’s more elevated idealised portraiture…..there is sense of understating what makes each sitter tick’

Titian, Self-Portrait, around 60

Titian, Self-Portrait, around 63

I was particularly struck by one of his late works Portrait of an elderly gentleman with gloves (Liberale da Pinedale). Which Matthias pointed out had some of the profound soul-searching depth to be seen in Rembrandt’s portraits. The sitter’s direct steady, contemplative gaze spoke to me putting me mind not just of Rembrandt’s late self-portraits but also penetrating, autobiographical portraits deep in old age by Picasso and Stanley Spencer.

Picasso, Self-Portrait, 90

Stanley Spencer, Self-Portrait, 68

The Curation

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of Andrea Odoni, Installation

The curation is wonderfully innovative as it included objects that relate to or are to be found in the portraits on display, making connections outside the frame, really bringing the portraits to life. 

I first saw the National make this type of connection at another exhibition curated by Matthias Wivel the brilliant (to my eye) Sebastiano and Michelangelo (Matthais‘s 60 min analysis of Sebastiano and Michelangelo on YouTube is well worth watching) which had many sculptures and drawings which related to the works on the display, helping to put the works in context. 

Lorenzo Lotto Portraits similarly has objects on display beside the pictures they are depicted in, notably the famous likeness of the Venetian collector Andrea Odoni from the Royal Collection. It has several of the objects Lotto surrounds Odoni with in his portrait.

The actual sculptures as seen in the painting including the headless Venus, a much admired piece from the collection of a Paduan humanist who owned the original is on display as well as the bust of Hadrian, not the plaster cast owned by Odini, the one of display is the actual original  owned by Cardinal Domenico Grimani, one of the great Venetian  collectors of antiquities at the time, all adding interest to  Lotto’s portrait of Odoni.

Picture Covers 

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of Bishop Bernardo de’Rossi, Installation

The objects supporting the portrait of Bishop Bernado de’Rossi in room one introduced me to a completely new view of Renaissance portraiture – the portrait as an active, intimate object.  Its label explained that unlike figures of authority personal, family portraits were kept under lock and key making viewing a much more active experience.

Bishop Bernado de’Rossi portrait would originally have had a cover as shown in the picture above. The frame and its cover seemed to have been separated, miraculously  the cover survives and was on show. Its cover was an allegory of the life of de’Roissi and included his crest. 

Lorenzo Lotto, Bishop Thomas Nigris

There is another example of the picture cover in Bishop Thomas Nigris portrait in room 3 which remarkably is still in its original frame. From its frame we can see that it too once had a cover now sadly lost.

Lorenzo Lotto, Bishop Thomas Nigris Detail showing frame cover

The portrait cover as evidenced in these two portraits  adds a whole new layer of meaning to Lotto’s  and other Renaissance portraits – the portrait as an intimate, revered object only to be seen at a specific time my  particular people. 

Conclusion  

I came away really impressed by the range and quality of Lotto’s portraits and the concept of portrait covers was a revelation to me. Matthias Wivel’s curation is excellent, really bringing Lotto’s portraits  to life, enhancing the viewing experience. I recommend anyone interested in Renaissance art then there is something here for you in Lorenzo Lotto Portraits and it’s free!  #Recommended 

The Chewing Gum Artist

Prior to meeting  Ben Wilson theChewing Gum artist I would have been sceptical as to his artistic credentials - having spent sometime down on the pavement with Ben I'm a convert. Apart from being a very genuine and sincere bloke his work is engaging and fun as well as being  not without purpose as they are often site specific or dedicated.

I met Ben on Garry Hunter's current, innovative excursion into curation - Fragments of Isolated Faculty. It's an art walk come geo caching trail in  Trinity Bouy Wharf and its surroundings.  The Chewing Gum Trail by Ben Wilson was on the pavements adjacent to East India DLR as one of the objects on Garry's trial, which ranged from Andrew Baldwin's, seemingly steampunk inspired, Fish Bike Sculpture, actually on the Wharf, to the enigmatic Electric Soup Mural by Bruce Mahalski in the near by Orchard Place.

It was, as I was walking back to take the DLR home. that I discovered Ben prostrate working on piece of gum shown above. I couldn't resist the opportunity to confront Ben only to discover a really pleasant, chatty and engaging artist committed to his work and life style. We had a very pleasant chat for a good 40 mins.

Our chat revealed him to be a family man , how he'd suffered for his art at the hands of Royal Academy Security Guards ,we had common interest in one Englands greatest artist - Stanley Spencer and Anish Kapoor was a fan. All in all a rounded individual who had found his life's purpose. Some other random discussion points: he's  been doing this work for eight and half years; he records and photographs each work; he sees restoration of his work important.

I was particularly impressed when he found an old work which he immediately set  about renovating from its decayed state  to a pristine lovely newness complete with its date. It was a site specific work a mini reproduction of a lone figure approaching  the lightening bolt sculpture infront of the building behind the work, painted in winter when the foreground tree was without its leaves, showing just how much detail Ben can cram into such a small space.

I look forward to coming across more of Ben's eccentric, witty and revealing work while encouraging you to keep your eyes down and open to find his work, there are over 8,000 pieces out there so you could get lucky!