(London) A study carried out by the British painter Graham Sutherland for his famous portrait of Winston Churchill, ultimately hated by his model and who ended up burned, will be sold at auction in June, the Sotheby’s auction house announced on Tuesday.
In 1954, to celebrate the 80e anniversary of the Prime Minister, Parliament commissioned Graham Sutherland, one of the most prominent modernist artists, a portrait of the charismatic leader, who was then approaching the end of his second term in Downing Street.
But Churchill hated the work, judging it “dirty and malicious” in a letter to his personal doctor, and refused to attend the ceremony during which the painting was to be unveiled, before allowing himself to be convinced, recalls Sotheby’s in a press release.
Part of the conservative press is also offended by the treatment given to the Second World War hero.
Churchill and his wife never exhibited the painting at Chartwell, their residence in Kent south of London, and even burned it. The scene was immortalized in the recent hit series The Crown.
On the other hand, several studies and preparatory drawings by Sutherland have been preserved, including the painting soon to be sold by Sotheby’s and estimated at 500,000 to 800,000 pounds ($860,000 to $1,400,000), which focuses on Churchill’s face , painted lightly in profile.
Before the sale scheduled for June 6 in London, the painting is on display for a few days starting Tuesday at Blenheim Palace, the imposing castle in the south of England where Winston Churchill was born.
This “piece of history” exudes a “charming intimacy” and shows “the improbable friendship that blossomed” between the painter and his model during the creation of the controversial painting, underlines Sotheby’s.