[71995] Edinburgh : Scottish National Portrait Gallery - Sir Winston Churchill
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
By Sir James Guthrie (1759-1830).
Oil on canvas, c1919.
This portrait was completed shortly after the First World War in which Churchill served successfully as First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions and Secretary for War with responsibility for demobilisation. The most vigorous and highly finished among a series representing contemporary statesmen, the picture was painted in preparation for his great commission ‘Statesmen of the Great War’. Churchill was a Member of Parliament for Dundee from 1908-22. He went on to serve as Prime Minister during the Second World War from 1940 to 1945.
James Guthrie became one of the leading painters in the group of artists called the Glasgow Boys. His early works of rural subjects painted with broad square brush strokes show the strong influence of French painters such as Bastien-Lepage. Guthrie was born in Greenock and trained as a lawyer before turning to art. After brief but stimulating periods in London and Paris, he committed himself to painting directly from nature in Scotland. Guthrie also experimented with pastel drawings and established a reputation as a successful portrait painter. He became president of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1902 and was knighted the following year.
[71995] Edinburgh : Scottish National Portrait Gallery - Sir Winston Churchill
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
By Sir James Guthrie (1759-1830).
Oil on canvas, c1919.
This portrait was completed shortly after the First World War in which Churchill served successfully as First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions and Secretary for War with responsibility for demobilisation. The most vigorous and highly finished among a series representing contemporary statesmen, the picture was painted in preparation for his great commission ‘Statesmen of the Great War’. Churchill was a Member of Parliament for Dundee from 1908-22. He went on to serve as Prime Minister during the Second World War from 1940 to 1945.
James Guthrie became one of the leading painters in the group of artists called the Glasgow Boys. His early works of rural subjects painted with broad square brush strokes show the strong influence of French painters such as Bastien-Lepage. Guthrie was born in Greenock and trained as a lawyer before turning to art. After brief but stimulating periods in London and Paris, he committed himself to painting directly from nature in Scotland. Guthrie also experimented with pastel drawings and established a reputation as a successful portrait painter. He became president of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1902 and was knighted the following year.