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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill Aboard the HMS Prince of Wales
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill Aboard the HMS Prince of Wales

Artifact IDMO 1944.23.2
Object Type Painting
Artist (American, 1881-1964)
Date1942
Mediumpainting: canvas, paint (oil)
frame: wood
Dimensionsframe H 39 in x W 44 3/4 in x D 3 1/2 in (99.1 cm x 113.7 cm x 8.9 cm )
 painting (on stretcher) H 30 in x W 36 in (76.2 cm x 91.4 cm )
Physical DescriptionAn oil on canvas portrait painting of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston L. S. Churchill on board the HMS PRINCE OF WALES on August 10, 1941. FDR and Churchill are seated on chairs on the deck of the ship, FDR on the left and Churchill on the right. Depicted in discussion, FDR is leaning sideways towards Churchill. Lower body views of standing military personnel are seen behind them. The artist's signature is in the lower left: Raymond P. R. Neilson '42.

The painting is framed in a 4 1/2" gilt wood frame with a fabric covered frame liner. Written in pencil on the reverse of the canvas are the words: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill / after church services on the quarter deck of H.M.S. Prince of Wales / in an Ireland harbor August 10, 1941 / by / RAYMOND P. R. NEILSON N.A. On the reverse of the frame is a framer's label for Julius Lowy, Inc., New York.

Historical NoteThe friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill has been called the most consequential of the twentieth century. The two leaders first met in August 1941 aboard two warships in the North Atlantic. At the conclusion of the Atlantic Conference they issued the “Atlantic Charter”—a stirring declaration of postwar goals.

One of the Conference’s highpoints was a church service on the quarter deck of the HMS Prince of Wales. It is depicted in this Raymond Neilson oil painting. The painting is based on a famous photograph of the two Allied leaders.

Neilson’s painting was commissioned in 1942 by Thomas J. Watson, the Chairman and CEO of International Business Machines (IBM). Watson was a strong supporter and frequent correspondent of FDR. He sent the painting to the President on November 10, 1942. In a note that accompanied his gift he wrote: “The meeting of you and Prime Minister Churchill on the Atlantic on August 14, 1941, is to my mind the most important world event that has ever taken place between the leaders of two great nations.” He asked FDR to accept the painting “as a souvenir of the birth of the Atlantic Charter.”

“I am really thrilled by what you have done,” FDR wrote Watson on November 19. “The likenesses of both Churchill and myself are excellent—and I am very happy to have it . . . . It was grand of you to think of this.” The President later had the painting hung at the Roosevelt Library.

Watson later sent a second copy of the painting to Churchill.

Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDeposited at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 24, 1943. It was donated as a bequest of FDR to the Library in 1947.
Credit LineEstate of Franklin D. Roosevelt
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesPortraits (National Archives Identifier 778816)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestricted
CopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
In Collection(s)
Not on view
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