As well as accepting commissions and painting portraits of those close to him, Spencer took himself as his subject on many occasions over his lifetime. While the people in his large group compositions often have a mannered, cartoonish style, his portraits are intensely observed and searingly direct. This worried likeness was painted in north London, following Spencer’s separation from his second wife, Patricia Preece. There, he became increasingly isolated and focused on writing his autobiography, which is to be published for the first time next year. Spencer claimed that without it, no one would truly be able to understand his work. (https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/the-daily/the-passion-of-stanley-spencer)