Allegory, 1938 (oil on canvas)

Allegory was painted in 1938, when De Sausmarez was a final-year student at the RCA. Essentially a modern-day narrative, the painting also refers to the life of Christ, from the moment of conception to the Agony in the Garden: the Visitation is on the right, the Nativity in the centre (with shepherds on the hills). The group on the left are possibly Pharisees and Saducees. The painting shows the influence of Stanley Spencer and his circle, evidence that his figurative legacy was still of consequence in the late 1930s. In the post-war years, like so many of his generation, De Sausmarez evolved towards an abstract style.