Towards Bere Nap - Dorset Study

This oil study of the Dorset landscape is the result of a single sitting, painted alla prima (at first attempt), a method whereby fresh paint is applied to previous layers of still-wet paint. It was painted in 1937, according to the catalogue of Spencer’s retrospective exhibition at Reading 1964 (no. 42).

Date: 1937
Inscriptions: Signed verso
Tags: Landscape, Oil Paintings
Medium: Oil on board
Height (mm): 365
Width (mm): 415
Location: New College, Oxford 4885
Exhibition History: Reading 1964 (42)
Provenance: Percy Julius Spencer, Mrs H. B. Spencer. The Estate of Miss Pamela Mary Spencer; Bonhams 29 May 2012 lot 66; Mallams 12 December 2012 lot 515; purchased by New College from Louise Kosman Online Gallery, 2014
Literature: Gough 2024 pp. 131-2, illus. p. 132