An unfinished and unsigned painting of the House of Commons after the 1979 election, with Margaret Thatcher at the dispatch box, was recently acquired by a young art dealer in Sussex. The enquiries that Alistair Lexden has made to try and identify the painting formed the basis of an article --with illustration-- entitled "Mystery over painting of Thatcher in the House" in The Times on May 30.
The article reports: 'The undated work has so far defied all attempts to identify it. Portraits of the Commons in session usually require a formal commission and the permission of the Speaker of the House, said Lord Lexden, the peer and historian of the Conservative Party.
Yet no record can be found of any such painting being commissioned at the start of Mrs Thatcher's period in power in 1979. "There is a painting by Alfred Reginald Thomson of the interior of the House in the era of Harold Macmillan", Lord Lexden told The Times. "There is no record at all to indicate that any further painting was done until 1986 when June Mendoza painted Mrs Thatcher". The painting, which is unfinished, bears a striking resemblance stylistically to Thomson's painting in 1960, leading experts to believe that it might be one of his last works. He died in 1979.
Lord Lexden believes Parliament should buy the painting. Paintings by Thomson are in high demand; his 1948 depiction of the London Amateur Boxing Championship sold in 2012 for £73,250.'