Robert Buhler was from a Swiss family. Although he was educated in Switzerland, he was born in London and spent most of his adult life in England. From 1945 he taught at Chelsea School of Art. Henry Moore was one of his colleagues there. He exhibited with the New English Art Club and at the Royal Academy. Buhler painted landscapes and also many portraits of well known figures such as Francis Bacon and Ruskin Spear. This portrait of the English poet Stephen Spender shows him aged 30, at a pivotal period in his life. His marriage had just broken down, World War Two was about to begin, and a major phase in Spender’s career was beginning. He had been appointed editor of Horizon, a well respected magazine about art and literature. This post placed Spender in a key role in English cultural life.