Lot 37: * AR Ivor Roberts-Jones (British, 1916-1996) Sir Winston Churchill, maquette for the monument in Parliament Square 50.8 cm. (20 in.) high (excluding the base)

Ivor Roberts-Jones
(British, 1916-1996)
Sir Winston Churchill, maquette for the monument in Parliament Square numbered '115' (on the bronze base)bronze with a brown patina on a stone base50.8 cm. (20 in.) high (excluding the base)
Provenance: Private Collection, since circa 1977The present work is a maquette for the large scale sculpture of Churchill by Roberts-Jones which stands in Parliament Square and was commissioned in 1971. The first important commission the artist had received came in 1961 from Lord Beaverbrook for a bust of Somerset Maugham. Following this, he was asked to sculpt the memorial statue for fellow artist Augustus John in Hampshire. This major work took three years to complete but was a great success and crucially led to his election as Associate of The Royal Academy. Further honours followed in 1975 when Ivor was awarded the C.B.E. Another cast of the present work was sold in these rooms for £92,600, 13 June 2018.