Churchill was MP for Dundee from 1908-22 and went on to serve as Prime Minister during the Second World War from 1940-45 and 1951-55. Guthrie’s portrait was completed shortly after the First World War, when Churchill’s political reputation was damaged. He held several government roles during the war, however his part in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign 1915-16 had temporarily forced him out of cabinet. The most finished among a series representing contemporary statesmen, the picture was painted in preparation for Guthrie’s commission Statesmen of World War I (in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London).