Spencer places this scene on Cookham High Street outside the shop next to Sarah Tubb’s home. The postcard rack hanging outside the shop can clearly be seen in this photo of the shop. Stanley goes on to write, ‘On the right a woman is taking down the postcard rack which she usually places daily outside her shop. One of the visitors is selecting a card from the rack to present to the old woman.’ Spencer could not clearly remember Grannie Tubb’s features and so painted the face of her daughter instead.

This painting, which features in our winter exhibition, was a winning entry in the 1955 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pennsylvania.