In 1947 Sir Robert Anthony Eden, the 1st Earl of Avon (1897–1977), attended a dinner party where he met Clarissa Spencer-Churchill (1920–2021), the niece of Sir Winston Churchill. Lord Avon had at the time been serving as Foreign Secretary of the British Conservative Party, and met Churchill’s niece through that connection. The couple fell in love and got married in 1952 in London, with a wedding reception hosted by Churchill at 10 Downing Street. After their wedding, Eden eventually succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister in 1955 and served the country for two years.
Besides his political life, Anthony Eden had always cultivated a passion for art from an early age, and with the help of his wife Clarissa acquired an impressive collection of art, which is set to be auctioned by Christie’s on 21 October in London. “The Edens’ lives are reflected in every lot in the collection”, commented Benedict Winter, Christie’s private and iconic collections specialist. The collection, originally housed in the Edens’ two country houses in Wiltshire, eventually complimented Lady Avon’s luxurious London apartment, where she moved after her husband’s death in 1977, and where she continued to live until her death in 2021, aged 101.
Clarissa Eden had always been surrounded by an intellectual circle of friends, which counted Lucian Freud and Greta Garbo among many others. Thanks to their connections, the Edens acquired a great quantity of influential Modern British Art throughout their lives, which includes two paintings by Winston Churchill given to the Earl during his political career, three works by Sir John Lavery and works presented to Lady Avon by her friends Cecil Beaton and David Jones – all included in the October auction.
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Their collection also features a selection of works of French influence, as seen in the pieces by Picasso, Braque, Degas, Laurencin and Corot, of which Lord Avon was particularly fond.
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Collectors will also find interest in the many books from the Edens’ libraries, demonstrating the eclectic world the couple inhabited: signed editions of Churchill, Field Mashal Montgomery and De Gaulle from Lord Avon’s library are accompanied by signed works to Lady Avon by authors such as Evelyn Waugh, Noel Coward and Cecil Beaton.
The sale evokes the elusive world of politics, society and interconnections that characterised British society at the time. Having remained in the same private hands for 125 years, the works of art collected by the Edens function as a time capsule. The mix is eclectic – featuring as many categories as English furniture, Impressionist and Modern Art, Modern British Art, Antiquities, Chinese Works of Art, Islamic Works of Art, Books and Manuscripts, and Silver – but all showcase the unique and elegant taste of the Edens.
See also: Degas' Wedding Gift to Berthe Morisot Heads to Auction
“This sale affords the rare opportunity to buy works of art and furniture that belonged to Anthony Eden, not only one of the most distinguished politicians of the 20th century, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, but a man of high artistic and aesthetic discrimination, and of his highly intelligent and intellectual wife, the former Clarissa Churchill, who possessed notably exquisite taste", commented Hugo Vickers, an acclaimed author and royal biographer, who was a long-standing and close personal friend to Lady Avon.
