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America's National Churchill Museum Acquires Historically Significant Churchill Painting

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Published
09/06/2023 by

America's National Churchill Museum (ANCM) at Westminster College announced today the acquisition of a historically significant oil painting, and the loan of two others, by Winston Churchill.


Firth of Forth

The former British Prime Minister, statesman, and talented artist painted Firth of Forth, circa 1925, in east Scotland, where the River Forth meets the North Sea.

The dramatic seascape depicting several World War I-era warships will be  on view to the public beginning Sept. 1 in a newly installed exhibition, Winston Churchill: A Passion for Painting.

Firth of Forth is a significant addition to the Museum's collection because it captures Churchill's great knowledge of, and admiration for, the British Royal Navy during a time of great change. The work depicts several Acasta-class British destroyers and other capital warships that Churchill knew well from his time as the First Lord of the Admiralty in World War I.

"While counterintuitive considering his reputation as a wartime leader, it was unusual for Churchill to paint military subjects, which makes this canvas quite rare," explained Timothy Riley, the Museum's Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator. "In the mid-1920s, when the painting was created, the World War I-era ships depicted in the painting were in the process of being decommissioned and scheduled to be sold for scrap. Churchill paints them steaming into harbor as the sun sets in the background, a poignant and almost melancholy scene, signaling the end of an era."

The painting is on display in the Museum's Anson Cutts Gallery with six other Churchill canvases as part of the special exhibition Winston Churchill: A Passion for Painting.

Leaning Palm, Jamaica

Included in the exhibition are two newly installed Churchill paintings placed on extended loan: Leaning Palm, Jamaica, was painted in 1953 when Churchill visited the Caribbean island during his second term as Prime Minister.

A View of Miami at Sunset

The other newly installed painting ― which since the 1960s has been titled Distant View of Venice and believed to be a view of the famous Italian city ― will be shown under a new title: A View of Miami at Sunset.

The painting received its new name after artist and Churchill researcher Paul Rafferty discovered the perspective of the tranquil scene infused with brilliant shades of cerulean and gold are actually of the Miami skyline painted from Miami Beach at sunset.

"A number of Churchill's canvasses could be confused with Venice, Italy," Rafferty explained in an interview on Aug. 21. "Focusing my attention on the subtleties of this painting, I came to see Distant View of Venice was actually the Miami skyline at sunset."

The September exhibition at ANCM will mark the first time the painting has been on view to the public since Rafferty's discovery.

Churchill painted the seascape while visiting the Miami Beach home of Col. Frank W. Clarke at North Bay Road in Miami Beach in January and February of 1946, just weeks before the statesman traveled to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, to deliver his famous "Iron Curtain" speech on March 5, 1946.

"When viewed from across the street of Clarke's house, looking across Biscayne Bay, the actual location of the painting is revealed," Rafferty said.

On August 10, America's National Churchill Museum verified Rafferty's findings and captured contemporary photographs and video from the exact site where Churchill created the canvas in 1946.

"Paul Rafferty's discovery is remarkable," Riley said. "It is incredible to imagine Churchill painting this beautiful scene of the sun setting over Miami while thinking about the danger of an iron curtain descending across the continent of Europe, a warning he famously issued here at Westminster College shortly after he painted this picture.

"Winston Churchill was indeed a visionary for all seasons … a keen observer not only of the immediate horizon, but also of everything beyond."

Dedicated on Westminster College's campus in 1969 as a memorial to Churchill's iconic 1946 address, ANCM preserves and promotes the legacy of Winston Churchill through exhibitions, education programs, scholarly research, and collections.  Winston Churchill: Passion for Painting will be open to the public beginning September 1 and is free with paid admission to the Museum.

Winston Churchill: Passion for Painting at America's National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri
  • Aug. 31, 2023: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. - Museum Member and Media Preview (earlier interviews and showing for media are available upon request)
  • Sept. 1, 2023: Open to the Public

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