Stanley Spencer

Image by L Pomeroy, Copyright 2009

Executed between 1927 and 1932, the wall paintings at Sandham Memorial Chapel comprise Stanley Spencer's most famous work and are arguably his finest achievement.

This extraordinary project illustrates the artist's experiences as a medical orderly in the Beaufort War Hospital (formerly Bristol Lunatic Asylum, and later Glenside Hospital), Bristol and the northern Greek region of Macedonia during the First World War and was strongly influenced by Giotto's Arena Chapel in Padua.

Painted in oil, Spencer intended the murals to celebrate the everyday routine of a soldier's life and to express an intensely personal religious faith. The scheme reaches its climax with the huge Resurrection of the Soldiers which completely fills the Altar wall and dominates the whole interior.

Spencer spent the entire war in the ranks, first as a medical orderly at the Beaufort War Hospital near Bristol. Then, in August 1916, he volunteered for service overseas and was assigned to the 68th Field Ambulances in Macedonia. A year later he transferred to the Seventh Battalion of the Royal Berkshires, to spend several months in the front lines before suffering from malaria, which resulted in being sent home.

Visit Sandham Memorial Chapel...  HERE