£10,000 - £15,000
CHURCHILL (SIR WINSTON) (1874-1965) FIFTEEN TYPED LETTERS SIGNED TO "MY DEAR HASELTINE" mostly returning thanks for gifts of sculpture ("PAPA PERCHERON stands in the hall here, and received much admiration, as do the other membvers of his family at Chartwell") 15 pages, 4to, one 8vo, 10 Downing Street, 28 Hyde Park Gate, La Capponcine AM and Chartwell, Kent, all but one with envelope, 2 November 1954 - 1 May 1958, a related letter to Haseltine from Churchill's Private Secretary Anthony Montague Browne, 23 March 1956 with envelope and two telegrams from Churchill, generally very fine (33)
In this cache of replies to Herbert Haseltine's letters (Churchill Papers, Correspondence with Herbert Haseltine, Ref C od CHUR 2/219) Churchill, himself an artist and connoisseur, puts aside feelings of slight embarrassment from the sculptor's long sustained acts of generosity and received with increasing enthusiasm the succession of bronzes despatched to Chartwell. From "...I really feel I am trespassing too much on your kindness", their mutual respect borne of a shared love of horses, dogs and fine art brings forth fulsome praise, for example "I think the statuette is most graceful and of great merit. I admire it very much....".
The gift of equine bronzes, which included HM The Queen's "Ausede" were joined by a more personal gift, Haseltine's sculpture of Churchill's poodle "Rufus". One visit to Churchill by Haseltine accompanied by his poodles did not happen because he "was not...chez moi and I think my hosts were perhaps concerned for their floor and furniture on that wet day".
One of the most famous 20th century sculptors in the tradition of les animaliers, Herbert Chevalier Haseltine, NA (1877-1962) was the son of the Hudson River School painter William Stanley Haseltine (1835-1900). A wealthy, cosmopolitan upbringing in Europe and America was the prelude to a glittering international career centred on Paris, where he and his wife lived in considerable splendour
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