A Churchill portrait which the legendary leader liked so much he summoned the artist to his door to sign it has sold for tens of thousands of pounds.
Artist Paul Trevillion was only 21 in 1955 when he did a pen-and-ink drawing of his hero. He was inspired to do so because Churchill famously hated a portrait commissioned for his 80th birthday in 1954, so much so it ended up on a bonfire. He told his private secretary, Anthony Montague Browne, ‘I look like a down-and-out drunk who has been picked out of the gutter in the Strand’.
Not so the Trevillion portrayal. The artist’s upbeat sketch of the former British prime minister brought a smile to his face, both on the picture and personally. In Paul’s mind’s eye, and on paper, Churchill had a jovial grin and glint of fun in his eyes. The artist captured the reassuring smile seen in countless newsreels, the image that comforted him as a child during the Second World War.
The portrait went under the hammer at London’s RAF Club in Piccadilly (Nov 20) – sparking a battle between online, phone and room bidders. In a sale led by Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, the final hammer price achieved was £72,000. The total paid with buyer’s premium was £94,896.
The artwork was secured by room bidders Andrew and Eva Jackson. Andrew said: “We are absolutely delighted. This is a wonderful portrait of an iconic individual and we’re so proud to be the new owners of this. And thank you to Paul, the wonderful artist.”
Charles Hanson said: “It was a remarkable result. The atmosphere was electric. We had bids and interest from far and wide including the UK, America and China. The winning bidders, a couple who reside between London and China, are great collectors of iconic art. They were thrilled with their purchase.
“We’re also delighted for Paul, an exceptional artist in his twilight years. Afterwards he told me, ‘You are the man, only you could have done that’. The result lit up a cold winter’s night in London. Items connected to Churchill will continue to be highly collected and this picture is particularly important. Paul captured the spirit and character of his hero and warmed Churchill’s heart.
“No-one could never have envisaged the impact it would have. Churchill liked the portrait so much he summoned Paul to his door – and signed his work. That gesture immediately made the artwork incredibly special and valuable. Churchill told Paul it was the only portrait he’d ever signed.”
Paul, 90, from Tottenham, London, was delighted by the result. He plans to donate some of the proceeds to good causes including the Peace Field Projects, a children’s football charity, and the Churchill Foundation.
He set himself the challenge of creating his own Churchill depiction after learning of his dismay over a 1954 portrait commissioned by parliament to mark his 80th birthday by acclaimed artist Graham Sutherland.
Paul, who was born in 1934, said: “Unfortunately, Churchill’s birthday was ruined by the Sutherland portrait, so I decided to do another portrait for his next birthday. My drawing was based on images I’d seen of Churchill when I was a child in the Blitz. I was five when war broke out in 1939. Churchill was always smiling with his famous V for victory sign. Those images of him helped me cope with the night-time raids.”
Paul managed to get his portrait delivered to the then retired politician via Bernard Sunley, a friend of Churchill’s and client of designer Lazslo Hoenig, for whom Paul was working at the time.
“Imagine my surprise when, a week later, sitting working in Hoenig’s studio, I was told that Sir Winston Churchill was on the phone,” said Paul.
“‘Hello,’ Churchill said, in his deep voice. ‘Is that Trevillion?’ I said, ‘Yes.’
“He said, ‘Winston here. I will be at the Bernard Sunley Buildings, Berkeley Square, on Wednesday, 10.30. Oblige.’
Nerves gripped the young artist as he made his way to meet his hero. “When I walked into the room, Churchill was seated. He put out his hand. I went to shake it, and he held it. He said he was expecting someone much older. He asked if I’d been evacuated in the war, which I hadn’t. ‘You’re a boy from the Blitz,’ he said.”
Churchill signed the picture, telling Paul: “There have been a lot of portraits painted of me, but this one I really like. It’s the only one I’ve ever signed.”
The artist has stored his artwork in a bank safe deposit box for 69 years. He never hung it up at home but occasionally allowed it to go on public display. He felt it was time to let go.
Neil Barker, manager of Hansons’ Churchill150 Auction, said: “We were privileged to offer this wonderful work. It is arguably the most important Winston Churchill portrait in existence. There have been suggestions he signed a 1932 portrait by Paul Maze but this is the definitive Churchill portrait, the one we know he absolutely loved.
“Perhaps it resolved the despair he felt when he saw the Sutherland portrait of himself slumped in a chair. It was not how he wished to be remembered. Apparently, his bitter resentment at the manner in which he had been portrayed weighed on his mind to such an extent his wife promised him ‘it would never see the light of day’. It was destroyed on her orders a month after Churchill’s death in 1965.
“How the deed was done did not become public knowledge until a biography of Lady Churchill by Sonia Purnell was published in 2015. In the Churchill Archives at Cambridge, Purnell came across a recorded interview with Lady Churchill’s private secretary Grace Hamblin. She and her brother, a gardener, dragged the Sutherland portrait out of the cellar at Chartwell [Churchill’s home] ‘in the dead of night’, loaded it into a van, lit a bonfire in the gardener’s back garden and burnt it.
“This helps to explain Churchill’s desire to personally thank Paul. The intense dislike of the Sutherland portrait was described as ‘passing the bounds of rationality’. Perhaps Paul’s portrait put things right on a deeper level than we will ever know, portraying Churchill in the way he wanted to be remembered.”
Auction: The Sir Winston Churchill portrait by Paul Trevillion sold in Hansons Auctioneers’ Churchill150 Auction on November 20, 2024 at The RAF Club, Piccadilly, London.
