Limited Edition of 39. Signed by the artist in pencil.
This newly issued print by Edwina Sandys, acclaimed artist and granddaughter of Clementine and Winston Churchill, evokes the resiliency and spirit of London during the Blitz in World War II. 80 years ago on December 29, as German bombers soared in the skies above, photographer Herbert Mason captured an image of Sir Christopher Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral surrounded by smoke during one of the worst air raids on London. Winston Churchill ordered that the iconic London landmark be saved at all costs. It was. The raid became known as the “Second Great Fire of London.” More than 160 people died, over 500 were injured, and hundreds of buildings were destroyed, including Wren’s St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, which was rebuilt in the 1960s as part of America’s National Churchill Museum on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Edwina Sandys brilliantly-colored interpretation of the historic scene was first captured in 1973, when she, like photographer Herbert Mason before her, climbed to a London rooftop to paint the famous cathedral. The vivid canvas is now in the permanent collection of America’s National Churchill Museum. In 2020, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the London Blitz, Clementine and Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Edwina Sandys—who survived the Blitz as a child—revisits the work with the current print, which is limited to an exclusive edition of 39. This rare and remarkable work will be a splendid addition to any discerning Churchill collection.
