Nicholas Orchard
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
Winston Churchill's paintings, all of them generate interest. He's just loved in many ways, and painting is just one part of it. And this view in particular is a really, really attractive scene in the south of France, and just looking at it makes you think about, wouldn't I like to be there on holiday? Did he paint it after the war?
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
He painted in Arthur Ward in 1958, so it was later in life, as he died in 1965, but he only took up painting when he was 40, so he was a late arrival to the passion of painting, and it was a great passion for him and his most important pastime.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
Well, that's a really good question. And the answer to that question is it is a good painting, but he was an amateur painter. So I'm sitting on the fence in that answer, of course.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
But really what I'm saying is that, of course, the man who painted it is all important in Churchill paintings because the story behind Churchill, who he was, his insignificance as an individual in the 20th century can't be underestimated. And so... There are a great number of passionate lovers of everything to do with history around Churchill, of which painting is one part.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
No. So he painted around 550 oils and he painted almost exclusively in oil. So a sketchbook wasn't part of what he did, but he only painted one painting throughout the whole of the Second World War, and that was in 1943, a famous painting that's called The Tower of the Kutubia Mosque, a view in Marrakesh.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
And in fact, that painting he painted after the Casablanca Conference when he took Roosevelt to Marrakesh to see the sun setting on the Atlas Mountains and then gave it to him as a present.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
So the painting was, well, Churchill gave it to his eldest daughter and it stayed with her and eventually was sold in 2007 to the current owner. And they are now got to a stage in life where they feel it's time to move it to the next person who might love it like they have. The estimate is five to eight hundred thousand pounds. Wow.
Global News Podcast
Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest
Well, that's an interesting question. There are a lot of Churchill paintings in the UK, including a really great number of them at Chartwell, his house in Kent, as well as quite a few at Blenheim Palace, where he was born and grew up. But he is passionately loved in America in particular as well, and so we do see quite a few in America too.