Issue No. 28

to David Coombs who is the authority
on Churchill’s paintings. He informed me
it was not by Sir Winston as he never
painted in watercolour. Thus began my
interest in Churchill’s paintings and a
bond with David. I began to locate places
where Churchill painted…
Finding these locations through a
combination of Google Earth, cartes
postales anciennes and knowledge of the
region turned out to be a huge challenge.
It was much more of an undertaking than
I had ever imagined.
Even before this, I had found myself
painting some of Churchill’s locations,
though many of the views were not
obvious. The painting at Villa Sylvia in
Cap Ferrat titled “The Little Harbour,
St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat” painted in 1921, is a
good example.
This pretty little cove lies just below
the exquisite Villa Rothschild and I had
painted this exact view before, though
I had taken in a wider field of view.
Churchill chose a more cropped view
and focused on the villa. It was the jetty
tower with its distinctive gazebo on
top that I eventually recognised, one of
many Eureka moments.
This led me to find another painting
of the garden of Villa Sylvia featuring
an old pergola. The painting of the
magnificent villa Churchill visited with
Sir John Lavery was a new discovery, no
one knew he’d ever been there.