Oil paint on paper on board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-stanley-spencer-1977" aria-label="More by Sir Stanley Spencer" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Stanley Spencer</a>
Sword Lord and Gideon
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1942
adults
Bible: Old Testament
figure
Gideon
Judges
Judges, chapter 7
objects
people
religion and belief
sword
weapons
paper unique oil paint board
19 June 2002 – 6 October 2002
2002-10-06
19 June 2002 – 6 October 2002
2002-10-06
2002-06-19
Abbot Hall Art Gallery (Kendal, UK)
http://www.abbothall.org.uk
2002-06-19
Spencer
Tate partnerships & programmes
22 May 2017 – 28 July 2019
2019-07-28
22 May 2017 – 28 July 2019
2019-07-28
2017-05-22
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2017-05-22
Blake Legacy
Collection based display
The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon
support: 622 × 559 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1942
<p><b>N05321</b> THE SWORD OF THE LORD AND OF GIDEON 1922–3</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not inscribed.
<br/>Oil on paper stuck to cardboard, 24 1/2×22 (62·25×56), with insertion 8 1/2×17 7/8 (21·5×45·5) extending along the top from the right-hand side.
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1942.
<br/><i>Coll.:</i> Lady (then Mrs) Spencer, from whom purchased by the Leicester Galleries; acquired by the C.A.S. from the Leicester Galleries April 1941.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Wilenski, 1924, pp.21–3, repr. pl.16.</p>
<p>Painted 1922–3 whilst staying with Henry Lamb at Poole, although Wilenski (<i>op. cit.</i>, p.22) records that it dates from 1921 and speaks of it as stemming largely from Spencer's war <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. The subject, however, continues the artist's pre-war interest in the Old Testament stories and is inspired by the seventh book of Judges, wherein is described the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon, particularly verses 19–21: ‘So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp, in the beginning of the middle watch;... and the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.’</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults Bible: Old Testament figure Gideon Judges Judges, chapter 7 objects people religion and belief sword weapons