Portrait of Winston Churchill (Sutherland)
1954 painting by Graham Sutherland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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. It was disliked by Churchill and within a year it had been destroyed.
In 1954, the English artist Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. Sutherland received 1,000 guineas[lower-alpha 1] in compensation for the painting, a sum funded by donations from members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.[2] 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.[3]
Finding the depiction deeply unflattering, Churchill disliked the portrait intensely. After its public presentation, the painting was taken to his country home at Chartwell but not displayed. 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 cited that attribute the destruction to Grace Hamblin, Churchill's private secretary. According to this, the painting was taken by her and her brother to a secluded house and burned. Clementine Churchill learned of the deed the next morning and approved.[4]