A magnificent, large signed photo of Winston S. Churchill from late 1900

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A magnificent, large signed photo of Winston S. Churchill from late 1900:
$22500.00

A magnificent, large, signed photograph of Winston S. Churchill captured and printed in late 1900, just after Churchill's first election to Parliament at the age of 25, still housed in the original, contemporary frame

Condition: Very Good minus

This large, original bromide print of a 1900 photograph of Winston S. Churchill, captured and printed shortly after his first election to Parliament, is extraordinary thus, signed. The image measures 11.375 x 9 inches within a 13 x 10.5 inches inset on the original cardstock mount, the mount measuring 17.375 x 14.875 inches. Churchill signed “Winston S. Churchill” on the lower right inset. The cardstock below the inset is printed at the lower left, center, and right. Left: “J. Russell & Sons. | 17. Baker Street, W.”. Center: the royal coat of arms, below which is printed “By special appointment to Her Majesty | The Queen”. Right: “High Street, Windsor. | Osborne Road, Southsea.” Getty Images attributes this image thus: “Winston Churchill pictured at his desk shortly after becoming MP for Oldham, circa 1900.”

The image eloquently captures Churchill on his first, tentative rung of the political latter, notably lacking the conspicuous air of confidence that would soon come to characterize him. The newly-elected Member of Parliament for Oldham, only in his mid-twenties, looks notably serious, eager and yet modestly self-contained. He stares directly at the camera, his countenance studiously intent, but neither his eyes nor mouth showing future Churchillian expressions of willfulness or mirth. His hands, set on the desk before him, are carefully clasped, the left folded over the fisted right atop a diligent-looking, tidy arrangement of paper. He tilts perceptibly forward in his high-backed, ornate chair, the left shoulder slightly higher than the right as he leans slightly on the desk.

Condition of this century and a quarter old print is very good minus. The image of Churchill remains clear and distinct, with no visible wear, likely owing to its ostensibly life-long protection beneath the original frame. Even under raking light we note no scratches, scuffs, or soiling. This protection has come at a reasonable cost. The image’s surrounding, integral matting is where age shows. The inset and outer margin are both toned, differentially and unevenly, and showing some minor spotting. The perimeter (roughly .375 inch or less in width), where the original matting has long been in contact with the wood of the frame, shows darker toning with a wood grain pattern and two holes, one at the top center and one at the bottom center, these used to center the original inner wood frame border. Doubtless, framing with acid-neutral, archival materials would have mitigated, if not prevented, the toning, but the frame served its purpose admirably in protecting the image itself.

Though it is undated, we date this particular image with deductive confidence to a two month span between 1 October 1900, when Churchill was elected to Parliament, and the first days of December 1900. According to the United Kingdom’s National Portrait Gallery, James Russell and Sons “often photographed royalty and advertised this on their cards by adding various royal coats of arms.” The firm would have been scrupulous about their prideful printed reference to “Her Majesty, The Queen” on this print’s original card mount; she died on 22 January 1901. We can further narrow capture of the photograph itself, since Churchill left London for a North American lecture tour at the beginning of December 1900, arriving in New York on 8 December, and did not return until February 1901.

Upon acquisition, we were informed that this photograph had been in possession of the family that sold it “since 1904”. The wood frame seems almost certainly original and contemporary to the print, an opinion shared by our professional, fine art framer. Hence, we have retained the original frame. We unsealed the frame to inspect the photograph and had it professionally re-fitted it with UV-filtering acrylic glazing as replacement for the original glass, also inserting a floating, acid-neutral mat between the image and inner wood border. The frame measures 19.125 x 16.125 inches.

Winston Churchill's political career would last two thirds of a century, see him occupy Cabinet office during each of the first six decades of the twentieth century, carry him twice to the premiership and, further still, into the annals of history as a preeminent statesman. He had just barely begun that storied arc when he sat for and signed this photograph.

Ref #: 008263
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