LONDON –168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell, the final work that Sir Winston Churchill painted, will feature in the 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Modern & Post-War British Art sale in London on 21 November.
The painting by Britain’s greatest war-time leader is appearing on the market for the first time since it was gifted by Sir Wins🌳ton Churchill to his bodyguard Sergeant Edmund Murray.
The work depicts the be🐬loved goldfish pool in the garden of Churchill and his wife Clementine’s home at Chartwell – the place most🎶 closely linked to his development as a painter.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:THE GOLDFISH POOL AT CHARTWELL, 1962. ESTIMATE £50,000–80,000. FROM 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:MODERN & POST-WAR BRITISH ART.
Winston Chur🍸chill discovered painting when he 🎃was 40, in the wake of the debacle of the 1915 Dardanelles campaign, which, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he had been responsible for instigating.
From this moment on, painting was to form an essential part of his life and he rarely travelled without his paint-box – a passion that would endure far i🍎nto old age. On many occasions, he remarked that the “Muse of Painting came to his rescue”.
The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell depicts one of the series of water gardens near the house at Chartwell, where he especially enjoyed feeding the golden orfe, whose descendants still swim in the pool at Chartwell. Churchill and Clementine had bought the house in 1922 – a purchase that was made possible by an unexpected inheritance from a distant cousin – and were to live there for 40 years. Chartwell not only became the family home and a beauཧtiful venue for entertaining guests, but also Churchill's cherished country retreat and a constant source of inspiration until his death in 1965.
THE GOLDFISH POOL AT CHARTWELL, WITH CHURCHILL’S CHAIR BESIDE IT. PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLOTTE WEYCHAN © CHARLOTTE WEYCHAN
Unlike many of his landscapes at Chartwell, this paintinඣg is unusual in zooming right into the water itself taking in the luscious foliage along the water side. It is an exemplary essay in tonality and near-abstraction, combining multiple hues of greens and browns to striking effect with the golden orfe brought to life through vivid flashes of orange impasto.
Having never sold a work during his lifetime, the vast majority were given by the artist to friends, colleagues, employees, foreign dignitaries or family members. This painting was gifted to his bodyguard Sergeant Edmund Murray, who served with him fr🦩om 1950 to his death in 1965, and who provided much support and encouragement in setting up his easel and preparing his brushes. Murray remembered that the final occasion Sir Winston used brushes was at Chartwell around 1962 – he died three years later in 1965.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1941. PHOTOGRAPH BY CECIL BEATON. © THE CECIL BEATON STUDIO ARCHIVE AT SOTHEBY’S.
Memorably, Churchill once remarked: "When I get to heaven I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million yea💎rs in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject..."
The sale offers a further work by Churchill, an early landscape painting inspired by the South of France, to be offered with an estimate of £100,000–150,000. An accomplished work from 1922, much like The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell it carries a fascinating story of a very private connection with Churchill and his family. It was given to Miss Maud Elgie, who between 1919 and 1921 had charge over the household’s nursery and Churchill and Clementine’s two eldest children. The sheer enjoyment that Churchill took in the process of painting is apparent in the freely applied and richly textured p🌠aint of this warm and bright view.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:LANDSCAPE WITH TWO TREES, 1922. ESTIMATE £100,000–150,000. FROM 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:MODERN & POST-WAR BRITISH ART.
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell (Estimate £50,000–80,000) and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Landscape with Two Trees (Estimate £100,000–150,000) will be ꩲoffered as part of the Modern & Post-Wꦉar British Art Evening sale in London on 21 November.
