Lot 70

The photograph is sandwiched between the window mount and the card to which it is laid down.

Within the sight area, the photograph is in good condition consistent with age. Across the lower part of the work are several very fine cracks in the surface, apparently superficial rather than in the paper, the most apparent of which at normal viewing are one in the lower left corner and another above-right of that (through the telephone cable, both of these visible in the catalogue photo).

(The various short fine white lines running at all angles visible in the catalogue photo are scratches in the framing glass catching the light.)



The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to seek further information or request additional images during our pre-sale period where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice. Please note condition reports can be amended during the pre-sale period, so we strongly suggest any interested bidders check the published condition report available on the website before the auction commences. Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble, CBE, DSO, DSC (1891–1948)
Thence by descent within the Goble family, Melbourne
Gifted to the vendor by a member of the Goble family

An iconic portrait of the Prime Minister, taken by Beaton in his capacity as Official Photographer, Home Front, for the Ministry of Information in the morning of 20 November, 1940, at the height of the Luftwaffe's Blitz raids on British cities, and used as the frontispiece for 'Into battle', the first volume of Churchill's collected War Speeches (Cassell & Co., 1941).

An instrumental figure in the early development of the Royal Australian Air Force, later serving as its head as Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Goble served as the Australian Air Liaison Officer to the Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada from 1941 to 1945. It seems likely the present lot was presented to him in that capacity.