BONHAMS TO SELL PAINTINGS BY CORONATION ARTIST OF FORD CARS MADE IN DAGENHAM
Two oil on canvas paintings by the official artist of the Coronation of Elizabeth II, Terence Cuneo (1907-1996), commissioned by the Ford Motor Company in 1947, are to be sold at Bonhams’ sale of Important Motor Cars and Fine Automobilia on 6 December. This year the annual end of year sale will take place at a new venue - Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands in Surrey.
The paintings are part of a series of six, which were commissioned to depict Ford’s car, truck, van and tractor production at the company’s Dagenham plant. Entitled Vehicle Inspection(February 1947) and Ford Thames Foundry (April 1947), they have attracted pre-sale estimates of £7,000 – 9,000 and £4,500 – 5,500 respectively.
During the war, the plant was a major production facility for military vehicles and Rolls-Royce aero engines, and was subsequently damaged by German bombing raids. After the war, it became the major European car production factory of the time, employing around 30,000 staff.
All six of the paintings were kept at the Ford training centre in Boreham, near Chelmsford, and in 1987 were loaned to the Terence Cuneo 80th Birthday Exhibition at the Mall Gallery in London.
Cuneo was an English painter famous for his scenes of railways, aviation, motoring, horses and military action. Brought into the public’s attention when he was appointed the official artist for the Queen’s Coronation in 1952, a bronze memorial statue of Cuneo, by Philip Jackson, today stands in Waterloo Station, London.
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go towww.bonhams.com