In 1935 the Royal Academy's hanging committee rejected two of Spencer's more controversial pictures for the Summer Exhibition, but hung three works, including this painting. His consequent resignation as an ARA sparked a controversy in the press, not least in reviewing the Royal Academy's attitude to contemporary art. The artist did not rejoin the Royal Academy until 1950 when he was elected RA. The scarecrow stood in a plot next to 'Rowborough', with a view down to the village. Spencer recalled, 'Left and deserted as it was it seemed daily to become more a part of its surroundings…In the evening he faded into the gloaming like a Cheshire cat.'

Lent by a private collector