to David Coombs who is the authority on Churchill ’ s paintings . He informed me it was not by Sir Winston as he never painted in watercolour . Thus began my interest in Churchill ’ s paintings and a bond with David . I began to locate places where Churchill painted …
Finding these locations through a combination of Google Earth , cartes postales anciennes and knowledge of the region turned out to be a huge challenge . It was much more of an undertaking than I had ever imagined .
Even before this , I had found myself painting some of Churchill ’ s locations , though many of the views were not obvious . The painting at Villa Sylvia in Cap Ferrat titled “ The Little Harbour , St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat ” painted in 1921 , is a good example .
This pretty little cove lies just below the exquisite Villa Rothschild and I had painted this exact view before , though I had taken in a wider field of view . Churchill chose a more cropped view and focused on the villa . It was the jetty tower with its distinctive gazebo on top that I eventually recognised , one of many Eureka moments .
This led me to find another painting of the garden of Villa Sylvia featuring an old pergola . The painting of the magnificent villa Churchill visited with Sir John Lavery was a new discovery , no one knew he ’ d ever been there .