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    • Posts Tagged ‘Winston Churchill’

    THE BRIDGE AT AIX BY CHURCHILL AT CHRISTIE’S

    Monday, September 13th, 2021
    Sir Winston Churchill, The Bridge at Aix en Provence (1948) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,702,500. 

    The Bridge at Aix en Provence by Sir Winston Churchill will highlight Christie’s Modern British Art evening auction in London on October 20. The painting was originally gifted to the Swiss paint manufacturer Willy Sax who supplied Churchill with his artistic materials and would become a lifelong friend. Churchill had already been using oil paint produced by Sax Farben, a family run paint manufacturer just outside of Zurich, when the pair formed a strong bond after their first meeting in Switzerland in September 1946. The resulting relationship ensued for the rest of their lives. The scene depicted in The Bridge at Aix en Provence would have been especially appealing to Churchill, not only due to his love of painting water, but also because this particular vista was also visited by Paul Cézanne, who inspired Churchill. The painting is estimated at £1,500,000-2,500,000.

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    WORLD RECORD FOR WARTIME CHURCHILL PAINTING

    Monday, March 1st, 2021

    There was a new world auction record for Sir Winston Churchill at Christie’s in London this evening when his Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque (1943) sold for £8,285,000. The only work Churchill created during the Second World War was once in the collection of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who are divorcing. It was offered for sale by the Jolie Family Collection. Churchill painted it in Marrakech following the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. and gifted it to Franklin D. Roosevelt. This act was seen not only as an indication of their friendship but of the special relationship between the UK and the USA.

    Sir Winston Churchill began painting scenes of Morocco after being encouraged to visit the country by his painting tutor, Sir John Lavery. Upon his first visit in 1935, he felt that the light and scenery were unrivalled, creating some 45 paintings of the country.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 2, 2021)

    Sir Winston Churchill, Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque. Painted in January 1943, it made £8,285,000

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    STELLA PORTRAIT AND CHURCHILL LETTER AT FONSIE MEALY

    Wednesday, April 10th, 2019

    Contents from Fortgranite at Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow – home of the Dennis family for three centuries – will be offered by Fonsie Mealy on April 16. The family, originally named Swift, is related to Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, author, satirist and creator of Gulliver’s Travels. They changed their name for inheritance purposes. Among 850 lots is a portrait of Esther Johnson in the style of James Latham estimated at 7,000-10,000.  Dean Swift’s Stella she is rumoured to have been his wife.

    Other lots include a Boer War letter from Winston Churchill addressed to “Captain M.J.C. Dennis, K Section ‘Pompous’, 2 nd Cav. Bde, South African Field Army”, dated 4 March 1901, signed “Winston S. Churchill” and written on House of Commons notepaper. Captain Dennis took exception to Churchill’s assertion that the Boers had made more effective use of their Maxim guns than the British gunners. This is Churchill’s carefully-worded reply, in which he does not recede from his opinion.

    Late 18th century/early 19th century Irish School portrait of Esther Johnson (Stella) UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER

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    VIVIEN LEIGH COLLECTION SOARS TO OVER FIVE TIMES ESTIMATE

    Tuesday, September 26th, 2017

    Winston Churchill, Roses in a Vase was the top lot at the auction

    The sale of the Vivien Leigh collection soared to over five times its pre-sale estimate at Sotheby’s in London today. Collectors turned out in their droves to witness and take part in the sale of her personal collection. Over 1,400 participants from 52 countries drove the auction total to £2,243,867  over five times the pre-sale estimate.

    Over the course of four days, some 4,000 people flocked to Sotheby’s to view first-hand paintings, furnishings, jewellery, couture, silver, books and further items celebrating all aspects of Vivien’s life. In a saleroom filled to capacity, all of the 321 lots offered found a buyer as lot after lot soared above estimate.  In this white glove auction more than 40% of lots were bought online.

    A painting by Sir Winston Churchill given as a present to Vivien Leigh sold for £638,750, nine times the pre-sale estimate.Study of Roses was sent to Vivien shortly after her visit to Chartwell, Churchill’s country home, in August 1951. It hung in her bedroom for the rest of her life. The price achieved for this one lot exceeded pre-sale estimate for entire auction.

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    CHURCHILL’S VICTORY WATCH AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, May 7th, 2015

    A unique Victory watch commissioned for Sir Winston Churchill – one of four created for the Allied Leaders after the Second World War – comes up at Sotheby’s on September 22.  The others were presented to Charles de Gaulle, Joseph Stalin, and Henry Truman. Estimated at £60,000–100,000 it features an enamel dial showing St. George slaying the dragon, with a trident as the hour hand.  ‘V’ for Victory is engraved on the back of case with a personalized dedication: “1939 – Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill – 1945”.

    Commissioned by a group of prominent Swiss citizens the timepiece was much treasured by Churchill. It was designed by Louis Cottier, who invented the world time mechanism, in collaboration with manufacturer Agassiz and Co. Cottier made the same complication for some of the most celebrated manufacturers like Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin. This vintage and historic piece will be a highlight at Sotheby’s reintroduction of watch sales in London next September.

    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £485,000

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s.

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s.  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £485,000

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s

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