.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Painted in the winter of 1924, the present work is one of Churchill's earliest pictures of Chartwell, his home for over forty years. He had purchased the property two years earlier in 1922, principally for its stunning panoramic views of the Weald of Kent. However, an extensive rebuilding programme to make the house more attractive and practical meant that Winston, his wife Clementine and their children did not move into the house until 1924. The present view is taken from a corner of the garden front, looking diagonally across the newly-created terrace lawn and summer house, later named the Marlborough Pavillion after the decorative scheme of murals added in 1949.
While his active involvement in the redesigning of Chartwell's gardens was one way in which Churchill escaped from the demands of political life, painting was another. In Painting as a Pastime, written in the early 1920s and published in book form in 1948, he wrote (p. 19): 'Just to paint is great fun. The colours are lovely to look at and delicious to squeeze out. Matching them, however crudely, with what you see is fascinating and absolutely absorbing'. He continued (pp. 21-22): 'The whole world is open with all its treasures. The simplest objects have their beauty. Every garden presents inumerable fascinating problems'.
The present work is one of two known views of Chartwell under snow by Churchill painted during the winter of 1924-25. The other, Winter Sunshine (private collection), he exhibited at an anonymous exhibition at Sunderland House on Curzon Street in London in 1925, where it awarded first prize by the judges, Sir Joseph Duveen, Kenneth Clark and Oswald Birley. It narrowly missed being passed over because Duveen was convinced that it had to be the work of a professional rather than an amateur painter.
While his active involvement in the redesigning of Chartwell's gardens was one way in which Churchill escaped from the demands of political life, painting was another. In Painting as a Pastime, written in the early 1920s and published in book form in 1948, he wrote (p. 19): 'Just to paint is great fun. The colours are lovely to look at and delicious to squeeze out. Matching them, however crudely, with what you see is fascinating and absolutely absorbing'. He continued (pp. 21-22): 'The whole world is open with all its treasures. The simplest objects have their beauty. Every garden presents inumerable fascinating problems'.
The present work is one of two known views of Chartwell under snow by Churchill painted during the winter of 1924-25. The other, Winter Sunshine (private collection), he exhibited at an anonymous exhibition at Sunderland House on Curzon Street in London in 1925, where it awarded first prize by the judges, Sir Joseph Duveen, Kenneth Clark and Oswald Birley. It narrowly missed being passed over because Duveen was convinced that it had to be the work of a professional rather than an amateur painter.