A bronze maquette by Oscar Nemon, Married Love, depicting Winston and Clementine Churchill, cast by the Morris Singer Foundry in a limited edition of 15 and numbered. This was the working model for the monumental sculpture at Chartwell, and so represents the most direct articulation of Nemon's original conception.
Among the most intimate sculptural interpretations of Churchill ever made, Married Love sets aside political authority in favor of companionship. Churchill sits beside Clementine in a composition of quiet balance, his grounded, introspective presence answered by her composed, stabilizing form; she is not secondary but integral, as she was in life. The bronze retains the immediacy of Nemon's modeling, the richly worked surface catching light across its planes, psychological depth taking precedence over formal idealization.
Nemon's association with Churchill began in Marrakesh in 1951, when he modeled the likeness from memory, and Clementine recognized it at once, opening the working relationship that produced the most authoritative sculptural records of Churchill's later life. A Croatian-born Jewish sculptor who lost twenty-two members of his family in the Holocaust, Nemon regarded his 1946 British naturalization as a debt of gratitude to Britain and its wartime leader, and that sincerity informs the work. His sculpture is held at the Guildhall, the House of Commons and Windsor Castle; within that body, Married Love is unique in presenting Churchill in a personal, relational context, and bronzes connected to the Chartwell monument are seldom encountered on the market.
Condition: Rich brown patina with expressive surface modeling; excellent overall. Mid-20th century.
Dimensions: 17” wide, 10” high, 10” deep
Literature: Oscar Nemon, unpublished memoirs and correspondence relating to Churchill's sittings; archival material relating to the Chartwell sculpture commission.
A bronze maquette by Oscar Nemon, Married Love, depicting Winston and Clementine Churchill, cast by the Morris Singer Foundry in a limited edition of 15 and numbered. This was the working model for the monumental sculpture at Chartwell, and so represents the most direct articulation of Nemon's original conception.
Among the most intimate sculptural interpretations of Churchill ever made, Married Love sets aside political authority in favor of companionship. Churchill sits beside Clementine in a composition of quiet balance, his grounded, introspective presence answered by her composed, stabilizing form; she is not secondary but integral, as she was in life. The bronze retains the immediacy of Nemon's modeling, the richly worked surface catching light across its planes, psychological depth taking precedence over formal idealization.
Nemon's association with Churchill began in Marrakesh in 1951, when he modeled the likeness from memory, and Clementine recognized it at once, opening the working relationship that produced the most authoritative sculptural records of Churchill's later life. A Croatian-born Jewish sculptor who lost twenty-two members of his family in the Holocaust, Nemon regarded his 1946 British naturalization as a debt of gratitude to Britain and its wartime leader, and that sincerity informs the work. His sculpture is held at the Guildhall, the House of Commons and Windsor Castle; within that body, Married Love is unique in presenting Churchill in a personal, relational context, and bronzes connected to the Chartwell monument are seldom encountered on the market.
Condition: Rich brown patina with expressive surface modeling; excellent overall. Mid-20th century.
Dimensions: 17” wide, 10” high, 10” deep
Literature: Oscar Nemon, unpublished memoirs and correspondence relating to Churchill's sittings; archival material relating to the Chartwell sculpture commission.
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