The Resurrection, Cookham: A Painting by Stanley Spencer
A painting that took two years to complete
Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) created one of the most unmistakably personal styles in 20th century art.
His aim was to:
“take the inmost of one’s wishes. the most varied religious feelings … and to make it an ordinary fact of the street.”
In paintings such as “The Resurrection, Cookham” he set biblical events in his own village.
As well as showing visionary boldness, his style was remarkable for its combination of loving attention to detail with freedom of form. A critic wrote:
“It is as if a Pre-Raphaelite had shaken hands with a Cubist.”
The Resurrection, Cookham was a painting that Spencer worked on over a two-year period (1924–6). At 18 feet by 9 feet, this was the largest and most ambitious painting that he had worked on up to that date, and it was a sensational success.
The basis of the painting is the verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (15:52) that is also the basis for what some Christians refer to as “The Rapture”:
“We shall not all…
