In a later list of ‘drawings of heads’, written inside a copy of R H Wilenski’s ‘Stanley Spencer’ (Ernest Benn, 1924), Spencer noted he had drawn ‘Dot’ Remington, Peter Remington and (cited elsewhere in the list) Eddie Remington. This drawing forms a pair with that of Peter’s mother Dorothy (see ‘Portrait of Dorothy Remington’ c1930). After Spencer had finished her portrait she asked him to draw Peter, who recalled sitting for 20-30 minutes. The two works show Spencer as a master of portrait drawing, combining a clear definitive line with soft sensuous shading. When his parents separated in c1936/7, Dorothy and Peter left Cookham, though they later moved to Maidenhead for some years while he worked at the Hawker Aircraft Company. Peter never saw his father again.

Lent by a private collector