Winston Feeding His Golden Orfes At Chartwell - 1949. Churchill, Winston S. - SPENCER-CHURCHILL, John.

A charming image of a contemplative Churchill painted by his nephew. Wrapped up in overcoat and homburg, he is seated in a rattan garden chair feeding his beloved fish from a tin of their favourite "aristocratic maggots". Inscribed by the artist "For Letha [Moseley] with best wishes from Johnny 1974". Churchill had stocked the pond at Chartwell with 1,000 golden Orfe in 1938, lavishing them with attention, feeding them exclusively on maggots sent by rail from Yorkshire in fibre-packed tins, an expense of 22/6 a week. "By the 1950s golden fish had become such a key part of Churchill's life as often to divert him from serious work. Going to see them was an established ritual, as visitors who were bidden to accompany him observed. After lunch he would stroll down to summon the gleaming horde, rapping his stick on the paved path and calling out 'Hike, Hike-Hike, Hike.' 'See they can hear me,' Churchill would exclaim. 'Look how they're all coming towards me.' He would feed them by hand, addressing them as 'Darlings'" (Brendon, Churchill's Bestiary). Colour print (274 x 355 mm). Float-mounted in a bird's-eye maple veneer frame, glazed. In very good condition.