January 1, 1970

Several of the artists painted Churchill’s portrait, including Nicholson, who drew Churchill in the 1940s as a Breton fisherman (in a ‘siren suit’), and Sickert. Sickert painted Churchill’s portrait in 1927 but Churchill disliked it – perhaps because it conveyed too accurately his pugnacious nature – and gave it away. ‘The myriad influences are easily seen in his paintings and occasionally impede the originality and directness of his thought and vision’ – Reg Gadney, writing in the Guardian. Despite the rather gloomy colours and shades of his earlier paintings, Churchill was later to become known for his love of colour and light. His brushwork was bold and decisive – as might be expected – with ‘fierce strokes and slashes’ (Churchill’s words).