Alfred Reginald Thomson RA (1894-1979)

▴ Alfred Reginald Thomson RA (1894-1979) 'First Time at The Box', May 1979 oil on canvas 91.5 x 121.5, unframed This painting is said to depict Margaret Thatcher as she made her first speech to the House of Commons after being elected Prime Minister in May 1979. It was executed contemporaneously by the artist, who was a well-known English portrait painter. The work was never signed and its significance was lost when it was bought at an antiques fair at Kempton Park Racecourse in 2015. The identity of the artist remained a mystery for many years. The owner began by asking surviving MPs whether they could shed light on the painting. However, Lord (Patrick) Cormack, a member of the Commons Works of Art Committee across the 1980s, was able to make the link with Alfred Reginald Thomson. Given permission to sketch from the public gallery in the chamber, the artist (who was deaf from birth) had painted a similar view of the Commons with Macmillan at the despatch box in 1960. Seemingly he had ‘updated’ the image to depict Britain’s first female PM with the use of photographs. Malcolm Hay, then the curator of the Parliamentary Art Collection, confirmed the attribution. Condition Report Several areas of paint loss, stretcher bar mark visible along top, some craquelure along top. Under uv light, the black areas of paint fluoresce but this appears to be caused by the type of paint rather than retouching. Please refer to images to illustrate paint loss.