Lost in the imagery of Strength and Power, Winston Churchill was not ready to face the undeniable truth that he was too susceptible to the onslaught of old-age. After serving his country, standing up to Hitler and leading his country to victory during the Second World War, he was ultimately viewed and seen as this Great Warrior and symbol of heroism.

To then have Graham Sutherland portray him as a crooked, self-loathing old man, with no strength or power, came as an insult against his name.

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In 1954 a portrait of Winston Churchill was commissioned by the members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons to celebrate the Prime Minister’s 80th birthday. Graham Sutherland at the time was mostly known for his war paintings and did not have much experience of painting portraits. Months were spent on the painting of Churchill, prepping, preparing, talking. Sutherland however refused to give the Prime Minister a peak of how the painting was coming along, saying he wanted to capture the Minister in his truest and complete form, not how he wanted himself portrayed.

Before the grand unveiling of the portrait, Churchill and his wife had the opportunity to first view it in private. It is easy to say that Churchill was livid when he viewed the portrait of himself for the first time, there staring back at him was not the image he had in his head of himself, staring back at him was a man that was far gone in his years, old, full of wrinkles and a man who does not seem capable of achieving all that he has.

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No one truly knows what happened to the painting, after being revealed at the Westminster Hall on his birthday, it simply vanished. There is speculation that his wife, Lady Clementine, saw what damage and self-loathing it had caused in her husband that she took it upon herself to make the painting disappear by giving orders to their private secretary to take care of it.

Many years later it was however revealed that the private secretary and her brother took the painting from Chartwell, where the house of the Churchills were, and went to the property of the brother to build a huge bonfire and thereby burning the painting.

Till this day, the Portrait of Sir Winston Churchill remains as one of the most famous ‘lost’ works of art in the British History.

Bren