Stanley Spencer painting expected to fetch £3-5m

Christie’s is offering a highly important work by Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) in the Modern British & Irish Art Evening Sale which will take place on 20 November 2013.

Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta: Conversation Between Punts is part of Spencer’s celebrated series painted in the 1950s, which explores the idea of Christ’s presence in his home town of Cookham, Berkshire. It is estimated that it will sell for £3-5 million.

This series was the most important in the artist’s career and the one he was working on towards the end of his life. Spencer painted imaginative, biblical scenes set in realistic and familiar landscapes and was one of the most original British painters of his generation.

André Zlattinger, senior director and head of Modern British Art at Christie’s, London, said: “We are delighted to present this masterpiece by Stanley Spencer; the series from which this work comes was the most important in the artist’s oeuvre. The Evening Sale presents works from over 100 years of British Art and spans all categories.”

The Modern British Art Evening Sale will also feature works by L.S. Lowry, Ben Nicholson, Samuel John Peploe, Lynn Chadwick and Barbara Hepworth. Comprising 42 lots the sale is expected to realise in the region of £12 million.