New Acquisition: William Coldstream, Study for St Nicholas Cole Abbey and Bow Church, 1946

Jerwood Foundation is pleased to announce an acquisition for Jerwood Collection: Study for St Nicholas Cole Abbey and Bow Church, 1946 by William Coldstream (1908-1987).

This recently rediscovered painting depicts the bomb-damaged skyline of the City of London in the months following the Second World War. Painted from the second floor of the Salvation Army Headquarters on Queen Victoria Street,150 yards from St Nicholas Cole Abbey, the work captures the church’s fractured silhouette with the spire of Bow Church rising beyond. Coldstream spent most of his summer working on this vista; he explained the appeal of the subject in a letter to his friend Dr John Rake: ‘The ruins even as they are now, washed clean, picked over and tidied up, fascinate me’. This painting was created alongside a larger version of the same subject, St Nicholas Cole Abbey and Bow Church (London Bombed Site), 1946 (British Council Collection).

After serving as an Official War Artist in Italy and the Middle East, Coldstream returned to London in 1945 and began recording its devastated urban landscape. His wartime experiences informed his post-war subjects, and this canvas reveals his sustained fascination with the changing cityscape.

The work also carries an interesting history as it was gifted by Coldstream to his friends, the writer Montagu Slater and the photographer Enid Slater, in likelihood to thank them for letting him use a small studio space in their Kent Terrace home.

This remarkable painting strengthens Jerwood Collection’s holdings in post-war British art.

December 2, 2025