Winston Spencer Churchill and the Allied Victory
Arthur Immanuel Lowenthal (1879 - 1964)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1945
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
62.7 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Lincoln
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 517337
Summary
Bronze, medal depicting Winston Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) and commemorating the Allied victory, by Artur Immanuel Loewental (1879-1964), manufactured by John Pinches Ltd, 1945. The obverse shows Winston Churchill in profile, facing left. Inscription to right reads ‘Churchill’, with the date 1945 and the V-sign symbolising Victory. On the truncation the signature A. LOEWENTAL. LINCOLN. The reverse shows a right hand emerging from a cloud holding a flaming torch, with the legend around the rim: UNFLINCHING. INDOMITABLE. HIS. SPIRIT. SAVED. BRITAIN. AND. SO. THE. WORLD. In the field is another inscription, citing one of Churchill’s most famous speeches: WE. WILL FIGHT. ON LAND ON. SEA AND. IN THE AIR UNTIL VICTORY IS WON. The sculptor’s monogram, AL, is below the cloud.
Full description
As a Jewish emigré from Germany who had found a home in the United Kingdom, Artur Immanuel Loewental had much to fear from the early successes of the Axis during the Second World War, and cause to be grateful for the indomitable resistance and leadership of Winston Spencer Churchill. His medal of Churchill was to become the sculptor’s best-known work. The plaster models were exhibited in Lincoln in 1944, at the Lincolnshire Artists’ Society’s annual exhibition held at the Usher Art Gallery. By this time, there was sufficient confidence in the outcome of the War to allow Loewental to consider issuing a medal to celebrate victory. Casts in plaster and in bronze are known bearing both the dates 1944 and 1945. The 1945 medal was published by Harry Burrows, a jeweller based in Manchester and was struck by John Pinches (Medallists) Ltd., London. The bronze edition was 1,000.Churchill died on 24 January 1965, just a couple of months after Loewental, on 17 November 1964. As a posthumous tribute to the wartime leader, the coin dealers B.A. Seaby Ltd. produced a new edition of Loewental’s Victory medal at a slightly reduced size, in bronze, silver and gold. There is an additional inscription on the obverse below Churchill’s bust OB 24. JAN. 1965 (He died on 24 January 1965). In publishing the new edition, Seaby noted that Loewental’s mesal featured ‘one of the finest portraits of Churchill.’Jeremy Warren, 2019
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (The National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: CHURCHILL | V - 1945 Obverse, below truncation: A. LOEWENTAL. | LINCOLN Reverse, legend: UNFLINCHING.INDOMITABLE.HIS. SPIRIT. SAVED. BRITAIN. AND. SO. THE. WORLD. Reverse, in field : WE. WILL | FIGHT.ON | LAND | ON. SEA | AND.IN | THE AIR | UNTIL | VICTORY | IS | WON Below cloud: AL (monogram)
Makers and roles
Arthur Immanuel Lowenthal (1879 - 1964), sculptor John Pinches Ltd, manufacturer
References
Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 270, no. 2070, Pl. 230 Engstrom 1972: J. Eric Engstrom, The Medallic Portraits of Sir Winston Churchill, London 1972, p. 17, no. 12 Pinches 1987: John Harvey Pinches, Medals by John Pinches. A Catalogue of Works struck by the Company from 1840 to 1969, London 1987, p. 27 Brown 1995: Laurence Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960. Volume III. The Accession of Edward VII to 1960, London 1995, p. 180, no. 4409 Turner 2014: John T. Turner, Artur Immanuel Loewental 1879-1964. A brief introduction to his life and work, together with a select list of his sculpted works, Lincoln 2014, pp. 36-37, 49-50, 96, no. LOE220