This is a limited and numbered lithograph of an original painting by Winston S. Churchill. The painting is titled “A Study of Boats”. The original was apparently painted circa 1933 (not 1939 as printed in the lower margin of this reproduction). It previously belonged to Churchill’s wife, Clementine, and has been exhibited multiple times, including a World Tour in 1958, at the Royal Academy in 1959, and at the New York World’s Fair in 1965. It is now held by The National Trust at Chartwell. (See Coombs, Fig 278, C 298)This lovely reproduction, one of 750 copies, is a “lithograph on cotton paper with serigraphy”. This copy is hand-numbered on the lower left blank margin “XXX/750” and hand-titled on the lower center blank margin “A Study of Boats”. At the lower right is a facsimile signature “Winston S. Churchill” and an embossed circular device reading “SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL TRUST AUTHENTIC LITHOGRAPH" and dated “2005”. The image measures 20 x 16.5 inches (50.8 x 41.9 cm). The thick cotton paper stock on which the lithograph is rendered measures 27 x 19.75 inches (68.6 x 50.2 cm).Condition is very good plus. The image is clean and bright. The white margins show very light soiling to the lower left and light wear and creasing is confined to corners. An accompanying embossed “Certificate of Authenticity” attests that the plate, stone, and screen used to produce the limited edition were destroyed thereafter.Soldier, writer, and politician, Churchill was perhaps an unlikely painter. Nonetheless he proved both a prolific and passionate one. Churchill first took up painting during the First World War. May 1915 saw Churchill scapegoated for failure in the Dardanelles and slaughter at Gallipoli and forced from his Cabinet position as First Lord of the Admiralty. By November 1915 Churchill was serving at the Front, leading a battalion in the trenches. But during the summer of 1915, as he battled depression, he rented Hoe Farm in Surrey, which he frequented with his wife and three children. One day in June, Churchill noticed his brother's wife, Gwendeline, sketching in watercolors. Churchill borrowed her brush and swiftly found solace in painting, which became quiet, enduring passion. During the remaining half of his long life, Churchill created more than 500 paintings. In so doing, he created for himself something restorative in the great and turbulent sweep of his otherwise tremendously public life. He wrote, "Painting is a friend who makes no undue demands, excites to no exhausting pursuits, keeps faithful pace even with feeble steps, and holds her canvas as a screen between us and the envious eyes of Time or the surly advance of Decrepitude" (Painting as a Pastime, p.13)

Excellent