Existing comment:
Sir Winston Churchill 1874–1965
Winston Churchill is Britain's most celebrated twentieth-century statesman, best known for his service as prime minister during World War II. From the beginning of his political career, he stood out from the crowd, gaining notoriety as the ambitious, provocative, combative, and determined son of the statesman Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife, Jennie Jerome, whose portrait is displayed nearby.
In this drawing, Churchill wears the robes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of several important political positions he occupied before his appointment as prime minister in 1940. An avid amateur artist, Churchill copied several of the paintings by Sargent in the collection of their mutual friend Sir Philip Sassoon, whose portrait hangs in an adjacent gallery. Sassoon commissioned this portrait as a gift for Churchill. It is one of the last works that Sargent produced.
Charcoal on paper, 1925
National Trust Collections, Chartwell (The Churchill Collection), Kent, UK
This is the National Portrait Gallery sign in the exhibit. |