Daphne's memories of sitting for this portrait remained vivid. She recalled posing daily for two to three weeks. She further told me that he deliberately reduced her to tears each day, to get some emotion into her face. She claimed that nobody else could cause her to cry: 'I don't know how, he had that power.' The sittings took place in the first-floor drawing room, where she is shown with a Chinese bowl behind her on the mantelpiece. On my visits to Daphne, the bowl was still there. (The hat, Stanley Spencer wished in effect to have two wives simultaneously, and it is clear that his second wife-to-be, Patricia Preece, collaborated in this idea. She also envisaged a ménage à trois between herself, Spencer and his former wife Hilda (née Carline), which would relieve Patricia of marital duties. Hilda had the sense to refuse. There followed a difficult period for Spencer: he had been divorced by his first wife, but for various reasons was not co-habiting with his second wife, whom he had married four days after his divorce in 1937. Patricia remained with her lifelong partner, Dorothy Hepworth (no relation of the sculptor, Barbara Hepworth).

In 1939, after a short period living on his own in London, Spencer began an affair with the artist Daphne Charlton. Although 18 years younger than Spencer, she provided warmth and nurturing to which he responded. Their affair was to last until 1941, although they remained in touch for the rest of his life. She was to feature in a remarkable series of paintings and drawings by Spencer inspired by their affair.

Over Easter 1940 the three artists temporarily returned to the Charlton's London home in Hampstead, where Spencer painted his striking portrait of Daphne. She wears a decorative blouse and a jaunty little black hat, with a pink rose and veil. She told me how she and Stanley had made an expedition to New Bond Street, where he purchased the fashionable hat for 3 guineas. In the 1970s, she was still demurring at the cost, saying that he could have obtained a perfectly good hat for 12/11d (less than a pound). Daphne also referred to Spencer's extravagant purchases of jewellery and clothes for Patricia Preece during the 1930s, which led him into financial difficulties, noting that he had never treated Hilda (or herself, except in this instance) in like manner.

Spencer's friend and supporter, John Rothenstein, Director of the Tate Gallery, immediately bought the portrait for its collection. Spencer recalled an exhibition at the Tate of recent purchases: 'and my portrait of Daphne in a black hat was there as also was the Daphne herself in the hat getting quite a bit of “glory” out of it all'.

In his engagement book for 1947, Spencer recorded that on Christmas Eve he was in Hampstead with Daphne. On Christmas Day he was still in Hampstead, but with his former wife Hilda. Later that day he returned to Cookham to join his second wife Patricia at an evening party in the 'Bel and the Dragon' pub. In life, as in art, Spencer revelled in complexity.

Carolyn Leder, scholar on Stanley Spencer, writer and historical adviser