A DRAMATIC painting by the renowned artist Sir Stanley Spencer is attracting the gaze of visitors entering the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham High Street.

Spencers’ depiction of ‘The Last Supper’ is on show at a new exhibition at the gallery until November.

‘The Last Supper’ was painted in Bourne End in 1921 at barrister and Labour politician Henry Slessers’ house.

He had invited Spencer to lodge with him and his wife, Margaret.

The Slessers’ home, Cornerways, was located among the many little islands of Bourne End’s Abbotsbrook Estate, and in his two years residing at the home, Spencer painted around 20 significant works.

Due to the paintings great critical acclaim it has since travelled far and wide - including twice to the Venice Biennale and more recently to the Divine Beauty exhibition in Florence.

It is now part of the gallery’s summer exhibition ‘Counterpoint’, which covers the years of “extraordinary upheaval and social change” in the first half of the 20th Century including two World Wars.

The exhibition also includes work of Stanley’s contemporaries, such as Mark Gertler’s ‘The Doll’, described as a “striking and memorable work”, which depicts a Dutch wooden peg doll which belonged to the painter’s niece.

These paintings are all being generously loaned by the Ingram Collection of Modern British Art, an exciting opportunity for the gallery which has never showcased pieces not painted by Stanley Spencer.

Chair of the Gallery’s management committee, Bob Kottler, said: “I have been enthralled with Spencer’s paintings and the whole way in which the gallery operates. I’m so pleased that visitors are loving this current exhibition. It’s new for us to include artists other than Spencer.”

The exhibition is showing seven days a week from 10.30am to 7pm, until November 3. For more information visit www.stanleyspencer.org.uk.