After completing these sketches, he made some oil studies of his subject. Sutherland made preparatory charcoal sketches of Churchill at a handful of sittings at Chartwell from August 1954, concentrating on Churchill's hands and face. Churchill also wished to be depicted in his robes as a Knight of the Garter, but the commission specified that he should be shown in his usual parliamentary dress – a black morning coat, with waistcoat and striped trousers, and a spotted bow tie.
Churchill had wanted to direct the composition towards a fictionalised scene but Sutherland had insisted upon a realistic portrayal, one described by Simon Schama as "No bulldog, no baby face. Sutherland and Churchill had different hopes for the painting. He was drawn to depicting subjects as they truly were without embellishment some sitters considered his disinclination to flattery as a form of cruelty or disparagement to his subjects. Sutherland had gained a reputation as a modernist painter through some recent successful portraits, such as Somerset Maugham in 1949. Background īy the time the portrait had been commissioned, Churchill was an elder statesman nearing the end of his second period as Prime Minister. Clementine Churchill learned of the deed the next morning and approved. According to this, the painting was taken by her and her brother to a secluded house and burned. For a long time it was assumed that it was destroyed by Lady Spencer-Churchill however, in the course of research for a biography of Churchill, audio recordings were sighted that attribute the destruction to Grace Hamblin, Churchill's private secretary. After its public presentation, the painting was taken to his country home at Chartwell but not displayed. įinding the depiction deeply unflattering, Churchill disliked the portrait intensely. The painting was presented to Churchill by both Houses of Parliament at a public ceremony in Westminster Hall on his 80th birthday on 30 November 1954. Sutherland received 1,000 guineas in compensation for the painting, a sum funded by donations from members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.
In 1954, the English artist Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. It was disliked by Churchill and eventually destroyed shortly after. The Portrait of Winston Churchill was a painting by English artist Graham Sutherland that depicted the British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, created in 1954. Portrait of Winston Churchill (1954) by Graham Sutherland
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