A Churchill portrait which the legendary leader liked so much he summoned the artist to his door and signed it could achieve more than £100,000 at auction.
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 and papers, the image that comforted him as a child during the Second World War.
But he could never have imagined the impact it would have on the legendary wartime leader. Churchill liked it so much he personally summoned the young artist to his door – and signed his work.
That gesture immediately made the artwork incredibly special. Churchill told Paul it was the only portrait he had ever signed. The Trevillion picture will be offered by Hansons Auctioneers on November 20, the month marking the 150th anniversary of Churchill’s birth on November 30, 1874. It is hoped it will attract bids in excess of £100,000. Due to its importance it could make significantly more.
Paul, 90, from Tottenham, London, hopes it will achieve more than £1m, the figure it was insured for when displayed at Manchester’s National Football Museum in 2017. 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 the iconic leader’s 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 years old 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 a 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 treasured artwork in a bank safe deposit box for 69 years. He has never hung it up at home but occasionally allows it to go on public display. Now he feels it’s time to let go.
Neil Barker, manager of Hansons’ Churchill150 Auction, said: “We are 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 wanted to be remembered in his old age. 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 Sir Winston’s death in January 1965.
“How the deed was done did not become public knowledge until a new 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 all 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 will be offered in the Churchill150 Auction by Hansons Auctioneers on November 20, 2024 at The RAF Club, Piccadilly, London.
Paul Trevillion, an acclaimed sports artist for 70 years, has been described as football’s finest artist. His work began on the terraces at White Hart Lane, home to Spurs, sketching players on the pitch. He never passed an exam. He produced artwork for publications like Eagle while still at school. He illustrated pieces for the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, and TV Century 21 and in 2006 revived his cult football cartoon You Are The Ref, made famous by football magazine Shoot! in the 1970s, for The Observer. He spent much of the 1960s in the US working with Mark McCormack at IMG for some of the world’s biggest brands. He is the author/illustrator of over 20 books and illustrated the famous Gary Player Golf Class which appeared in over 300 newspapers worldwide. He has drawn some of sport’s biggest names, including Pelé, Bobby Moore, George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Sugar Ray Robinson and Oscar De La Hoya.
Sir Winston Churchill (November 30, 1874-January 24, 1965) was an inspirational statesman, writer, orator and leader who led Britain to victory in the Second World War. He served as Conservative Prime Minister twice, 1940-1945 and 1951-1955.
Auction events | Information
November 6, 10am-4pm: View the Churchill portrait by appointment at St James, Street, London.
To book an appointment, email: [email protected]
November 14, 5.30-8pm: Talk by Charles Hanson on the Churchill portrait at Hansons’ Derbyshire saleroom. To book a place, call 01283 733988 or email [email protected]
Enquiries: [email protected]
Website: winstonchurchill150.com – due live September 21
