ΦGilbert Spencer RA (1892-1979)

ΦGilbert Spencer RA (1892-1979)
Portrait of Wilfrid Evill (1890-1963), seated in an interior, with paintings from his collection behind
Signed and dated GILBERT SPENCER/1931-2 (upper left)
Oil on canvas
104.3 x 88.9cm

Provenance:
Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1981, lot 308;
Sotheby's, London, 27 March 1991, lot 114
Christie's, South Kensington, Modern British Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture, 1996, lot 26, where purchased by the previously private collector;
And by family descent

Literature:
Gilbert Spencer, Memoirs of a Painter (London, 1974), p.103

Wilfrid Evill was one of the most significant collectors of contemporary British Art in the 20th Century. His first purchase was a Stanley Spencer in 1928, and he went on to assemble a remarkable group of Spencer's work, many accepted in lieu of fees for his services as a lawyer. Other artists he collected included William Roberts, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Graham Sutherland and Lucien Freud.

Gilbert Spencer met Evill through his brother. This portrait, painted in 1931-32, shows what a remarkable collection the solicitor had assembled in just four years, as in the background are works by John Nash, Spencer Gore and Gilbert Spencer himself.