Art

From the estate of Margaret Thatcher, with a printed label on the reverse reading "This print was presented to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, FRS, MP, to commemorate her visit to the Renal Unit on 1st October, 1986. It shows the original building of the Royal Sussex County Hospital which was designed by the architect, Sir Charles Barry, who later designed the new Houses of Parliament after the great fire of 1834. The victims of the bomb explosion at the Grand Hotel on October 12th, 1984 during the Conservative Party Conference were brought to and treated at this hospital". The print is a replica of an aquatint published by John Bruce in his History of Brighton, 1834. This was a poignant gift: Thatcher had visited the hospital on 13 October 1984 to meet the victims of the bombing, a failed assassination attempt on her which killed five individuals, including a Conservative MP. Her return almost exactly two years later was to open the new renal unit, and was shortly before the 1986 Conservative Party conference. She mentioned her visit to the hospital in her conference speech: "last week I went back to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, to open the new renal unit. Many of us have cause to be very thankful for that Brighton hospital." The print was kept by Thatcher until her death in 2013, and here appears on the market for the first time after acquisition directly from her estate. Colour print with green mount, framed and glazed in a gilt wooden frame. Print size 18 x 23 cm, frame size 35 x 39 cm. Posthumous Margaret Thatcher printed library label pasted on reverse. Print with offsetting around mount. In very good condition.