Stonehenge #1, 1959 by Charles Fraser Comfort (1900–1994), depicts the monument with green grass in the foreground and the stones in greys, browns, with touches of turquoise and violet. The overhead sun illuminates the stones, showing their texture and mass, while the sky is rendered in soft blues and lavender tones.

Stonehenge, located in Wiltshire, England, is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments, dating back to around 3000–2000 BCE. Its massive standing stones and circular layout have made it a subject of fascination for archaeologists, historians, and artists for centuries. Comfort’s painting captures the monument’s iconic stones and the surrounding landscape, emphasizing their scale, form, and atmospheric presence.

Charles Fraser Comfort was born in 1900 in Cramond, near Edinburgh, Scotland, and immigrated with his family to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1912. He began his artistic training early, apprenticing at Brigdens Limited while taking evening classes at the Winnipeg School of Art. He later continued his studies at the Art Students League in New York under instructors including Robert Henri and E. Allen Tucker. In 1925 he settled in Toronto, where he lived, worked, and became a central figure in Canada’s art community.

He also painted in England as an official Canadian war artist from 1943 to 1946 during the Second World War, producing works depicting locations in southern England before being posted to Italy and northwest Europe.

This oil on canvas was painted 13 years later, during a time of peace. Where once the roar of artillery echoed, in 1959 only birdsong and the gentle whispers of the wind filled the air. The vapour trails in the sky came from RAF (Royal Air Force) jets flying at a nearby airfield.

On the back of this canvas Comfort wrote:  "While I painted here in the warm sunshine, larks sang sweetly above me while distant artillery boomed at the Lark Hill ranges. The sky was filled with vapour trails created by jets at nearby Boscombe Down Royal Airforce Station. Painted at Stonehenge, Wilts., 17th June, 1959. This was the first of three such paintings at the monument. The scene is looking north and includes only the easterly areas of the two circles."

This oil on canvas measures 12 × 16 inches and is signed and dated bottom right.