'The holy box' : the genesis of Stanley Spencer's Sandham Memorial Chapel
- Submitting institution
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Arts University Bournemouth, the
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Gough_32010 Holy Box
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Sansom & Company, in association with the National Trust and The Stanley Spencer Gallery
- ISBN
- 978-1-911408-09-3
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Holy Box continues Gough’s published research into the work of British painter Sir Stanley Spencer who served as an official war artist in both world wars. Gough was given unique access to the archive held by the National Trust of correspondence between the artist, the architect Lionel G Pearson and the patrons Louise and Mary Behrend who provided the funding and guidance for the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere, Hampshire, which Spencer painted between 1924 and 1932, and reflected his war experiences in Bristol and the Balkans, now Macedonia.
Gough acted as both lead writer, contributing over 60% of the material, and editor for the remainder. In order to tell the full story of the chapel, now regarded as one of the emblematic painted memorials of the Great War and unique in northern Europe, and to fully address the particularities of the archive, Gough brought together a leading family biographer, a garden historian, and an expert in silversmithing and ecclesiastic decoration to undertake detailed analysis of the social and material culture of the chapel, its silverware and its environs. Each chapter drew on the archive to relate an aspect of the chapel’s construction, decoration and reception.
The research contributes a detailed understanding of the importance of Spencer’s commemorative paintings, based on unique material never before analysed, interpreted or published. Gough was subsequently invited to present his research at international conferences in Thessaloniki, Macedonia in May 2018, and Ypres, Belgium in August 2018.
The book was launched in Burghclere at the invitation of the National Trust on the 90th anniversary of the consecration of the chapel in March 2017, in the company of both of Spencer’s daughters, Unity and Shirin, and grandson John Spencer, who now manages the Spencer Estate in collaboration with the Stanley Spencer Gallery and the Tate.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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