Frank Owen Salisbury, R.I., R.O.I. (1874-1962)

The present work was commissioned by Duncan Sandys, who at the time of its execution was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply and Chairman of the Cabinet Committee for Defence against German V-Weapons. Sandys was married to Churchill's eldest daughter, Diana Bailey, and he commissioned a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill by Salisbury, which sold in these Rooms, 27 November 1997. The portrait hung in the family house in Vincent Square, apart from a period during the early 1960s, when it was lent to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street. Though never an official war artist, Salisbury painted many patriotic scenes during the Second World War, such as the present lot which depicts the Germans bombing the south coast of England. The Battle of London was painted in 1944, the same year a large retrospective exhibition took place of Salisbury’s work, entitled Portrait and Pageant, which was held at the Royal Institute Galleries in Piccadilly, London.