Twenty-one portraits of former British Prime Ministers from a single collection will be offered for sale at Sloane Street Auctions on June 12th.
Possibly the largest collection of portraits of British Prime Ministers in private hands, and outside the National Portrait Gallery, this group of 25 portraits of 21 Prime Ministers has been built up over a lifetime by the collectors who have consigned them here.
The collection is led by an important portrait of the first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) by Irish artist Charles Jervas (c.1625-c.1725), and a rare bronze maquette of Sir Winston (1874-1965) and Lady Churchill (1885-1977) by artist and friend Oscar Nemon (1906-1985) entitled Married Love.
Among the other portraits on offer are those of William Pitt the Younger; Spencer Perceval, the only Prime Minister ever to be assassinated; the Duke of Wellington; Sir Robert Peel, founder of the modern Police force; Benjamin Disraeli; William Gladstone; David Lloyd George; Harold Macmillan; Anthony Eden; Harold Wilson; and Margaret Thatcher.
The celebrated English painter Ruskin Spear (1911-90) produced several of the portraits, including those of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher.
The highest estimate is for the portrait of the man accepted as Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745). Painted by the Irish artist Charles Jervas, the estimate is £25,000-35,000.
Triumph
A £10,000-15,000 guide applies to Oscar Nemon’s (1906-85) double portrait maquette in bronze of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill from around 1978. Nemon was a close friend of the whole Churchill family and Lady Churchill considered an earlier bronze bust of her husband a triumph in capturing his character. From an edition of 15, the maquette is titled Married Love, and a life-size version of the piece can be found at Chartwell, the Churchills’ home in Kent.
“Having had such a success with the sale of the property of the late Baroness Thatcher, we are proud to be able to offer this major collection of portraits of British Prime Ministers in our Chelsea showroom,” says Sloane Street Auctions’ owner Daniel Hunt.
“These sort of pieces would have been a natural fit for Christie’s South Kensington in its day, but now that has gone, we find that consignors tend to come to us, so we are delighted to play our part in keeping this tradition of higher end works coming to London beyond the confines of Bond Street and St James. It is also a happy coincidence that our auctioneer, Hugh Edmeades, was Christie’s South Kensington’s former chairman.”
Live online bidding is available via Sloane Street Auctions’ website at www.sloanestreetauctions.com
Images courtesy of Sloane Street Auctions
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