Franta Belsky

We had some fun yesterday, my wife’s aunt held a party for the reinstallation of her sculpture which was stolen a year or two ago. I was able to complete another one of the edition for her.

After a very good party I remembered that she had lent me a book about a friend of hers called Franta Belsky an accomplished Czech sculptor who settled in England. He had a very interesting life well worth following up .

I rather discounted him because of the rather strange work in Knightsbridge which I do not care for but some of his other work is exquisite and much of it I highly recommend.

He also did some very famous portraits, best known of; Our Queen, Sir Winston Churchill, President Truman and shown above my Regiment’s Colonel, “Colonel Dickie” (Earl Mountbatten of Burma).

I must admit I was a little shocked the first time I saw a picture like this. It was of Churchill himself confronted by this life study with a sly grin on his face. I doubt somehow that he actually posed for this portrait without cloths!