East Midlands Hidden Paintings

I'm one of those people who has never really been too bothered

about art. Not my cup of tea! But I'm about to make some discoveries

that might just change my opinion. That is absolutely as is shown in

paintings. That's fantastic. That picture could've been painted

yesterday. It turns out that some artists were

as devoted to recording the past as I am to discovering it. And some of

the paintings here in the East Midlands, hidden away from the

public gaze, hold the key to some fascinating, forgotten history.

You never know quite what you're going to find.

But is seeing believing? And can we trust the artist to tell us the

All of my life I've been fascinated by history and the amazing stories

from our past that surround us. And the way I like to explore these

stories is by getting as close as possible to their source: diaries

and manuscripts, digging up bones and ancient remains, climbing

castle walls, driving tanks. Real, tangible history is what I like

best! But there is one other potentially

vast reservoir of information about history that all too often, I've

tended to ignore. I'm talking about paintings. The whole country is

full of them, and they're not only in the places that you might think.

And what's so interesting about paintings is that they are time

capsules packed with clues about the past. These murals for example,

tucked away in a city-centre shopping arcade, are based on real-

life Nottingham bigwigs from the 1920s: a local freemason, a

prominent doctor's wife, a Notts County footballer. That's the thing

about paintings they're not always what they seem. I'm really

intrigued to find out how useful paintings can be in the pursuit of

history and this is the perfect place to start looking. Nottingham

Castle Museum, sitting on top of the city it's home to thousands of

paintings from all over the world, many of them owned by us, the

I'm not art critic, but I am fascinated by paintings that can

use a historical source that tell us something about the faces,

clothing and the ways of life of the people that lived hundreds of

years ago. If you're interested in the history of Nottingham, there's

a name that crops up again and again: Arthur Spooner. And here is

his most famous painting. It's of the renowned Nottingham

Goose Fair, painted in the mid 1920s when it was still held in the

market square. When I look at this, I think how

much has changed, but also how much has remained the same. It's a very

recognisable scene. It's a fair, human beings all crammed into a

city centre venue, much like still goes on today. People rammed into

that space, but it's also that the details are so fascinating. You've

got the little tram tracks on the street, that little boy's belt

buckle is so clearly of its time. You've got what looks like a Middle

Eastern figure there wearing a fez, a reminder that British society was

a lot more diverse back the start of the 20th century than we now

think of it as. The clown in the centre of the picture who's selling

those annoying, gimmicky party things. And you've got these

wonderful steam attractions, the chimneys blowing out steam. We can

almost hear and smell the steam as well.

So who is this artist, Arthur Spooner?

He's a Nottingham man who paints Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. He

studied here, he tried London and he came back. He wasn't

internationally recognised. How do you define the kind of art

that Spooner is producing? I suppose for the 1920s, it's quite

old-fashioned, it's representational. So does that mean

that he's trying to paint things as they actually are, to keep a record

of it? Yeah, he's definitely documenting life, isn't he? When

you look at his paintings, you get a sense of what life must have

really been like at the time so it's full of detail. Ironically, he

might not have been very popular at the time. He might be useful to us

now because we can actually tell what was going on. Yeah, they're

stacked full of information. what about The Goose Fair? It's

such a vibrant painting. What does that tell us about the history of

Nottingham? To me, that's a real end of an era. It's a very 1920s

picture in terms of its fashions. You've got the Exchange building in

the background, which was demolished in 1926. That's kind of

the last Goose Fair in the centre of Nottingham. After that, it got

moved out. What a wonderful source we have for that, those dying days

of the Goose Fair. Yeah. Spooner clearly wasn't ever going

to be an artist superstar but for me his decision to instead use his

painting skills to record local people and events makes him a man

after my own heart. To find out more about Spooner and his

paintings I need to delve a bit deeper. Literally. Most public

museums and galleries don't have enough space to display all the

paintings in their possession. So where are the rest? Well in this

case they're down here...in the very bowels of the building.

This really is exciting, going to the store rooms. This is where they

keep all of the treasures that they don't have room to display upstairs

in the galleries. It's like Aladdin's cave, it's fantastic.

Fantastic. Many more hidden Wow, that's amazing. These long,

dead, old men, their faces emerging But what about that other man I

came down here to investigate? Ah, this one here looks like a familiar

artist, Spooner, a great, grand civic occasion. Very accurately

painted. Beautiful buildings of Nottingham in the background.

Amazing, isn't it? A bit of research tells me that the

painting is a record of the then Princess Elizabeth's visit to

Nottingham in 1946. It was clearly the kind of event that warranted

the Spooner treatment. That must be a commission. The

faces in that must be people who wanted to be in that picture. That

was painted well after Goose Fair, 20 years later. His reputation then

was somebody who could record things, not just record, but add a

sense of life to them as well. I think that was what he was really

And this is that scene today. It's called Old Market Square and it's

still the beating heart of the city of Nottingham. But something

troubles me about that painting - the faces of the great and good are

all very carefully painted and everyone else is a bit indistinct.

It's almost like he's been paid to show them right at the centre of

the action. And that makes me question just how reliable a source

these artists are. Did he paint that scene as it really happened?

I've been told that just up the road from here I might find a few

more clues about the elusive Mr Spooner and his art. Spooner was

very much Mr Nottingham and inside this building his name was like God.

The Nottingham Society of Artists was established in 1880 and from

1946 till his death in 1963 Spooner was the society's President. I'm

sure he'd be delighted to know that the pursuit of artistic excellence

is still going strong today. That's not Nottinghamshire. It is

supposed to be Delphi. That looks like it, I recognise the three

columns. Muriel Norman remembers when

Spooner's influence dominated the art classes here. Where and when

did you first come across Spooner? I first saw him at the School of

Art. I was never in his class, but he was to go through from the life

class to the antiques room where Spooner taught so I knew him quite

well by its side, although I was never one of his pupils. What was

his -- he well known for? He was very strict and keen on drawing,

and observation. If anyone, I remember one day, there was one of

his female pupils in who had been doing a model. It was an abstract.

He said, what is that she --? She said, that is how I see it. He said,

your eyes must be different from mine. He was quite caustic. He

wanted people to observe things closely and draw them. Drawing was

the main thing. So it he like to to represent things on a campus as

they were in real life? Absolutely. That what's -- that is what makes

him great now because he was painting things as he saw them.

That is right. He also wanted people to enjoy them. He loved

colour, but he did insist on drawing. So it is something

important was happening in Nottingham shire, they would get

Spooner to record it? Yes. Talking to Muriel, Spooner was a

man obsessed with detail and accuracy, but I am sceptical how

far an artist can be trusting. Amongst all the formal portraits

and pinpoint accurate commissions of Spooner's there were a couple of

very striking paintings down in the Nottingham Castle secret vault.

This one is a spoon as well, but it is a different kind of painting,

more indistinct. It is a beautiful building. It is a ruined abbey.

Classic British stately home. I think it's time to head out of

the city and see some of Spooner's This Abbey is the ancestral home of

the infamous Lord Byron. On a day like this you cannot imagine what a

romantic setting it is. I wonder why Spooner painted these

scenes. Like many of his works there's not much information on

their background. It's almost as if they are totally self-contained

with all the information locked within oil and canvas, ready to be

I wonder whether Spooner came here to relax and enjoy the freedom. It

is a bit like a modern-day spin- doctor: You have to tell a certain

story in a certain way to suit the needs of poor has got the cash.

It meant Spooner was prolific. But I want to track down examples of

his work than can really tell a historical story.

This could provide the answer. As we have learnt from our trip to the

council, a huge number of oil paintings are owned by the public

in this area. But this is the first attempt to catalogue them all.

Spoon a features heavily as you can imagine. Lots of portraits of local

bigwigs, military officers and horses. But there are a couple that

are intriguing and not far from This is Portland College in the

middle of Sherwood Forest. Here they specialize in giving people

with all kinds of disabilities the opportunity to learn, re-train and

It doesn't take long to find my Spooners hanging in a corridor. But

before I investigate them there's another painting hanging nearby

which has a lot to say about the 60-year history of Portland college.

It's a portrait of a lady in her prime. She's gazing off to one side

as if she's seeing a vision and a lady of vision she certainly was.

Meet Winifred Duchess of Portland. I found this fantastic portrait

inside the college. It was painted in 1912 by a favourite of the

aristocracy. It is a beautiful portrait, her famous skiing is on

show and it is dripping with pearls. She looks every inch the Duchess. -

- her famous skin. Winifred may have been born a

Victorian and married an aristocrat but it turns out she had a very

modern attitude to disability and independence. It started early in

married life with her support for injured soldiers and local miners

and ended when she founded Portland college and realized her life's

ambition. Here she is, a sprightly 82, with the young Princess

Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the laying of the college foundation

stone in 1949. But what inspired Winifred to start her mission and

how does all this relate back to our old friend Arthur Spooner? Well,

here are the paintings that brought me to Portland College and they

appear to hold a vital clue to why the duchess developed such a

passion for helping the injured and disabled.

The paintings are titled Welbeck during the Great War. This was the

stately home of the Duke and Duchess of Portland. Fascinatingly,

the Union flag is flying up there and underneath it is the bed cross.

It appears to be some kind of hospital or rehabilitation centre.

People in gritters are playing croquet, nurses are very visible.

This was the front of the House, the scene of great peace and

tranquillity. Many of these soldiers would have escaped from

the whole hall that was France, terrible fighting. This one is

fascinating as well. Some red crosses and people recuperating

from their injuries. A very military field, they are all in

uniform. Perhaps this is a figure of the Duchess in the middle. She

is wearing pearls, she has the tilt of her head I recognise from the

other portrait. I wonder if this is the Duchess as she wanted to be

represented and remembered, looking after those less fortunate than

herself. This was 30 years before So how useful an historical clue

has Spooner left us? To find out I'm heading 12 miles north to

Winifred's old home. Welbeck Abbey is in the heart of the historic

Dukeries, an area of north Nottinghamshire famous for once

being seat to not just one but four Dukedoms, nestling shoulder to

shoulder. Welbeck is no longer a ducal seat and remains a family

home, alongside a gallery, a farm shop and a cookery school. But in

Winifred's time you wouldn't have seen many members of the public

wandering around here. Welbeck was a thriving centre of late Victorian

and Edwardian high society with the 6th Duke and Duchess hosting lavish

balls, grand dining, state politics and royal visits.

As one of Nottinghamshire's finest artists, are third spinach had

benefited from the patronage of the Duke and Duchess. -- are put

Spooner. But the upper eyesore at Portman College produced a

It's impossible to understate just how traumatic the First World War

was for the whole country. The massive losses had never been

experienced before and the vicious, mechanical form of warfare resulted

in not only a huge death toll but totally new kinds of disfigurement

and injuries. You can imagine why a woman like the Duchess with all of

these resources to hand may have But I've got to keep my historian's

hat firmly fixed in place and check that when Spooner painted the

scenes at Welbeck during the war he wasn't just doing a bit of handy PR

for the Portlands. And I know just the man to help. Derek Adlam has

been the curator of Welbeck Abbey for almost thirty years and there's

virtually nothing about its rich history he doesn't know. All was

the Duchess Winifred like? She was a very warm-hearted person. She had

a great deal of sympathy for the common man. She was particularly

aware of the number of injuries that took place. Part of the family

income came from the minds and so she founded an orthopaedic hospital

to treat injured miners. It was turned into Portland College.

picture in here, which shows patients and the Duchess in the

middle, it was in October 1914. The war had only been going on for two

months maximum. The hospital must have been founded very close to the

beginning of the war. The Duke and Duchess must have been aware of

just what the outbreak of war implied and that they must played

some part in relieving the distress, and making up for facilities that

might not appear to have been prepared by the government forced

up it is a wonderful picture of her because she is in profile. She was

extremely beautiful. She is beautifully dressed in a special

unit for. You can see in the photograph that she is wearing

pearls which would have been strictly forbidden a bunk -- among

the other nurses. Her Vale looks different as well. A couturier

designed and made her uniform as well. The thing that Winifred would

have been getting her hands dirty? I think it is very unlikely. She

would have been there to give moral support and comfort. She would have

provided practical support in the sense that there was a Medical

Facility lacking, if that was the case, she would have provided it

all asked her husband to provide it. Welbeck Abbey is a fascinating

place. While many similar estates have thrown their doors wide open

to the public, Welbeck retains an air of remoteness and secrecy. But

in pursuit of Spooner and the Duchess I've been allowed a rare

visit into its heart. Just how accurate was Spooner when

he was painting his pictures? This is a fantastic place. That is

absolutely as is shown in the paintings. That picture could have

been painted yesterday. Of course, the foliage has gone, but it is

just extraordinary. I always like a piece of art are more when it is

based on reality. It is wonderful to know that he was painting things

in situ from probably around here. The fact that he got the buildings

so accurate and put what looks like Winnifred the Duchess in front of

them with the wounded soldiers means that we can believe that they

probably would have been wounded soldiers and nurses mixing out here

and enjoying the fresh air. People recovering so far from the trenches

where they had sustained the terrible injuries forced up what

was she trying to achieve when she got spinner to paint these

paintings? Beat Spooner paintings simply are

to make a record of what had happened at Welbeck. They date from

1918 so it was already clear that the war was coming to an end and so

the Duke would have commissioned them in order to make a record of

what had occurred and the contribution that Welbeck had made.

But they are a bit utopian. I would have liked to have been a patient

at the hospital. I am sure they are an accurate the craft -- reflection

of what was here. The kindness of the Duchess, the facilities of the

hospital. We do not know whether the nurses here were dealing with

serious trauma or whether it was more in the nature of convalescence.

There is this charming men To which belong to to one of the nurses. It

is a little collection of her own photographs. They are little

snapshots. These seem to corroborate that the Spooner view

of life here, it is a lovely realistic scene. Yes. Swimming and

boating, and Spooner paints them playing croquet, skating. Why did

they get spinner to paint them? was a very good painter. He had a

great pair of hands when he wanted a record made. A so it implies that

they wanted accuracy. Absolutely. The Duke like everything to the

straight and clear. He labelled things, he lied leading accounts of

things behind so that there would be no doubt about facts. Obviously,

commissioning these paintings in 1918 as the first war was coming to

an end, so that must have been why he called Spooner to make the

record, an accurate record, of the day's in Welbeck's history. So this

is the old kitchen block. This is the kitchen block as it was painted.

It is where the soldiers were being looked after. Here is an

inscription. This building was used as an obsolete hospital during the

Great War. It continued to be used until the end of hostilities. All

of the guys had acute injuries and needed medical care. So we've

solved the mystery of why Winifred was so passionate about

rehabilitation and why she founded Portland college - the pinnacle of

her life's work. Winifred believed that disability shouldn't mean

ending up on the scrapheap. Sixty years later her legacy lives on.

Wayne Kirkham first came to the college because of spinal disorder

that now means he uses a wheelchair. He now works here.

Without this college, when you found out that you had the

congenital disease, what would you have done? I would have been sat at

home, climbing the four walls and twiddling my thumbs thinking that I

was no use to anyone, including myself. My life would have been

wasted. A tell me about the treatment you went through when you

arrived here. I went through an initial assessment to see where I

was, what stage, and what training I needed to go -- to get. Then I

enrolled in everything I could, including coming to the physio

department, using the gym, staff here, you don't just come down here

to be somewhere at a specific time. If you come here, you work and the

staff a year working. They soon find out what your capabilities are

and they pursue. It does you the world of good. It has given me

believe in myself. It has given me the tools to prove to myself and

others that I am capable of living a normal life and being part of

society. It probably still has ex service people here. We have a

young lad who was a victim of Afghan. He took a bullet to the

head. When he came along a few months ago, he was a completely

different person. He is now walking with a stick which he is behind

most of the time because he wants to be seen as one of the guys again.

He has really come on leaps and bounds. He is a fantastic character

to have around. Amazing that improvements in a short amount of

time. That is what Portland does to you: It gives the belief that you

can achieve what you want to achieve. The staff help you to do

that. It is amazing that it is still doing the same job that it

did 60 years ago. Yes. I am sure we will still be doing it in a another

60 years' time. And so if it wasn't for Arthur

Spooner and his half-forgotten paintings I'd never have come

across Portland College and the story of Welbeck during the Great

Spooner may be a big fish in a small pond, taking bits of work

from the great and good, but thank goodness he was because his

depictions of what went on here, detailed, accurate, are fantastic

bits of evidence. They tell the story of a significant episode in

local history - the story of the injured servicemen whose

experiences inspired Winifred to set up Portland College. They shed

light on why a rich aristocrat devoted so many years to a cause

And beyond that Spooner captured a watershed moment in British history

a time when the established order of British society turned upside

down and inside out. In that moment when Winifred, Duchess of Portland,

offers her matronly care to a battle-scarred soldier, everything

Spinner may or may not have been aware of that, but he was there to

record it, and for that, we should But there's one final twist in my

investigation and it's back in Nottingham. It's hidden in the

painting that first introduced me to the work of Arthur Spooner, the

artist-historian. It has been very hard to find out

about Spooner as a man. The archives have mostly vanished, but

we have found this newspaper article from 1960. He gives an

interview to this journalist and he admits in the interview that the

figure of the clan in deep despair painting is actually a self-

portrait. He says, I have been a town in my time. It is just

brilliant, it adds another layer of interest about painting, bringing

personality and colour to my understanding of Spooner. But it

also makes me cautious when I approach pictures. It is a reminder