Winston Churchill

1 portrait by Robert Elliot

© estate of Robert Elliot / National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Make a donation

Winston Churchill

by Robert Elliot
bromide print, 26 July 1943
9 7/8 in. x 8 in. (252 mm x 202 mm)
Photographs Collection
NPG x17071

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Robert Elliot (1913-1983), Photographer. Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Faces of the Century, 1999 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 October 1999 to 30 January 2000), p. 202
  • Cooper, John, Great Britons: The Great Debate, 2002, p. 128 Read entry

    Churchill's simple gesture inspired hope, signalled defiance, and celebrated eventual victory. Its similarity to a well-used digital insult rendered it doubly effective as a morale booster. After fifty years in politics, Churchill was a skilful popular communicator: gestures, expressions, hats, various uniforms and other sartorial eccentricities supplemented verbal mastery.

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1943back to top

Current affairs

The War effort continues with women recruited to the Home Guard and Ernie Bevin introducing conscription of miners as coal output continues to flag.
There is panic when a new anti aircraft weapon is heard for the first time in London and 173 people die in the crush to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

Art and science

Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb is used during Operation Chastise - the Dam busters Raid - to destroy three dams in the Ruhr area of Germany. The raid was considered a success, knocking out hydroelectric power, cutting off the water supply to industry and causing devastation through flooding. The operation also, however, cost the allies many lives, and the bouncing bomb was not used again.

International

The invasion of Sicily is successful thanks to Operation Mincemeat, in which false documents were planted on the body of a dead airman to mislead Germany into thinking that the Allied target was Sardinia. The invasion led to the fall of Mussolini and Italy joining the Allies.
42,000 German civilians are killed in a firestorm in Hamburg caused by the Allied bombing in Operation Gomorrah.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.