Terry's Lane, Cookham

Terry's Lane, Cookham is an oil painting on canvas with a wooden frame by Stanley Spencer. The painting depicts a typical rough road with a few bush shrubs and trees along its sides. On the horizon, the rooftop of a house is visible.

A well-maintained compound can also be seen surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. Stanley Spencer in his early days, once admitted this was a regular childhood walk that he usually took with his brother that enabled them to get to the railway bridge. This painting is a well-drawn sketch where the artist almost miraculously brings a typical pathway to life with eerie keen to detail. The green leaves, brick red rooftops, white-washed houses and brown grass on the canvas provide its onlooker with a set of different emotions. This include; innocence, nostalgia, love among many others. It is mainly because the painting is a perfect replica of many homesteads' surroundings of the 1900s. The painting hence gives onlookers a sense of belonging and a visual image of a typical village in the 1900s.

Terry Lane, Cookham was not painted during the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood era, however, it is clear that Stanley Spencer was a huge admirer of their techniques. He used this technique to capture the intricate details in his paintings. By doing so he applied the social realism technique to depict familiarity, love and countryside life popular with many people in the 1900s. Spencer's paintings in the early 1900s were widely regarded by most as shocking and controversial. This however changed drastically in the late 1900s and 2000 where people now look at his paintings as stylish and experimental. Few paintings are related such as the Ancient lane by Simon Palmer among others. The painting is widely believed to be located at a private collection currently as is not hanged in any museum.

Terrys Lane, Cookham painting has the following theme:

• The well-kept lawns, huge house rooftops depicted hard work in a seemingly remote village. This shows the village lived a quiet and luxurious life away from the city.
• The green plants, trees show fertility in the land and the people.
• Warm colours all over the painting also bring out a strong feeling of family love.

This a beautiful painting focused on capturing the past with all its glory to the present and future.