![]() It was his first view of the work, and he was deeply upset. Churchill's son Randolph thought the portrait made him look "disenchanted".Ĭhurchill's wife viewed the completed portrait on 20 November 1954 and took a photograph back to her husband. Churchill's wife thought it was a good resemblance – "really quite alarmingly like him" – but also said it made him look too cross, while recognising that it was a familiar expression. Sutherland was reluctant to discuss the work in progress with Churchill and showed the subject few of his working materials. Churchill is shown scowling, slightly slumped forward, surrounded by wintry grey, brown and black tones. The pose, with Churchill grasping the arms of his chair, recalls the statue of US President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He took his preliminary materials back to his studio to create the final work on a large square canvas, the shape chosen to figuratively represent Churchill's solidity, reflecting a remark that Churchill made, "I am a rock". Sutherland also worked from photographs by Elsbeth Juda. Sutherland made charcoal sketches of Churchill at a handful of sittings at Chartwell from August 1954, concentrating on Churchill's hands and face, and then made some oil studies. Churchill hoped 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. Sutherland and Churchill had very different conceptions of the painting. He was drawn to capturing the real person: some sitters considered his disinclination to flattery as a form of cruelty or disparagement. Sutherland had a reputation as a modernist painter with some recent successful portraits, such as Somerset Maugham in 1949. ![]() After the death of Lady Churchill in 1977, it became clear that she had the painting destroyed some months after it was delivered.Ĭhurchill was an elder statesman in 1954, then towards the end of his second period as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. After the public presentation, the painting was taken to his country home at Chartwell but was not put on display. 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.Ĭhurchill hated the portrait. The 1,000 guinea fee for the painting was 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 Sir Winston Churchill.
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