A piece of rare artwork of the Canadian Rockies, painted by one of the world’s greatest statesmen, will soon go up for auction in London.
The work, painted by Sir Winston Churchill while on a trip to Canada back in 1929, had been mislabeled for years as being of Lake Louise when it in fact depicted Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park.
It was given by Sir Winston to his longtime bodyguard Sergeant Edmund Murray and kept in the family since then.
Now, the owner says he wants the work to be seen by the public, preferably somewhere close to its origins.
“Right from the start when we decided to sell it, I hoped in a way it would return to where it was painted in Canada,” says Bill Murray.
Churchill, along with being one of the 20th century’s greatest leaders, was a lifelong painter.
Experts say that despite that, few of his works are known.
“He painted a few scenes. There aren’t many known. We know for certain that he painted a couple of paintings of Lake Louise and they are in the collection at Chartwell,” says Frances Christie with Sotheby’s, the auction house overseeing the sale of Murray’s painting.
“He also painted the Bow River but we hadn’t realized that he painted Emerald Lake until this picture surfaced onto the market.”
The painting is a little worse for wear presently, but it’s estimated that the auction, that will take place on March 20 in London, will fetch £6,000 to £8,000 or about $14,500 Canadian.
(With files from Bill Macfarlane)
