Study of Duncan Grant for 'Evening in the Country'
- Artist: Vanessa Bell
- Date: 1944
- Medium: oil paint and bodycolour on wove paper, with pinholes at the upper corners
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the Study of Duncan Grant for “Evening in the Country” by Vanessa Bell. Created in 1944, the sketch is laid on wove paper with oil paint and bodycolour. Its rapid, loose brushwork feels like a moment captured straight from life, likely taken as a preparatory study for the larger portrait that shows Grant and Bell’s husband seated together in the Garden Room of their Sussex home, Charleston.
Bell produced this portrait sketch almost forty years after the pair first met, marking a deep, lifelong creative partnership. Though it comes from her later, more naturalistic period, the work still hints at her earlier experiments with abstraction and colour. Notice the daring yellow dashes on Grant’s shoulder and the blocky strokes that build his cheek and temple – a reminder of her earlier bold gestures.
The canvas also bears subtle pinholes at the upper corners, a small sign of age or the paper’s texture. Overall, this study balances the intimacy of a live sit‑down with the expressive energy of Bell’s evolving style, offering a fascinating glimpse into her artistic process and the personal bond that inspired it.
See it in person
Study of Duncan Grant for 'Evening in the Country' hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
