Douglas Chandor

Douglas Granville Chandor (20 August 1897 – 13 January 1953) was a British-born American painter of portraits, of which he created more than 200.

His early paintings included two of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII). In 1923, he was commissioned to paint the British Empire Prime Ministers During the Imperial Conference at 10 Downing Street. He later painted Winston Churchill and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and did a sketch of the "Big Three at Yalta", although the painting never happened. His 1952 portrait of Elizabeth II is in the British Government Art Collection, and is the first painted portrait for which she sat following her accession. His other portraits include Sara Delano Roosevelt, U.S. president Herbert Hoover, and U.S. financier and statesman Bernard Baruch.

He designed Chandor Gardens in Weatherford, Texas, which are a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Early life Douglas Chandor was born in Warlingham, Surrey, England, on 20 August 1897. He was baptised on 19 October in Emmanuel Church, South Croydon, where at the time his family lived at Normanton Road. His father was John Arthur Chandor and his mother was Lucy May Chandor . His half-sister Paquita Louise de Shishmareff (born Louise A. Chandor, 1882–1970), the daughter of John Arthur Chandor and Elizabeth (Red) Fry Ralston, was an American antisemitic, pro-fascist author under the pen name Leslie Fry. According to the Daily Mail in 1921, he was also a nephew of duelist Count Chandos (a misspelling - should be Count Chandor), who was a friend of Napoleon III.

Chandor was educated at Radley College from 1910 to 1914, and after leaving immediately enlisted in the British Army's 1st Life Guards, before later transferring to the Lovat Scouts. He trained at London's Slade School of Fine Art, specialising in portraiture.

Career Elizabeth II by Douglas Chandor, 1952. Government Art Collection. Within two years of starting at the Slade, Chandor had held his first one-man exhibition. The Sunday Post reported that one was very much like him and the other could have been of anyone else. Standing from left to right were William Massey (New Zealand), Jai Singh Prabhakar (Alwar), Tej Bahadur Sapru (India), W. T. Cosgrave (Ireland), W. R. Warren (Newfoundland), and General Smuts (South Africa).

Chandor painted Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill. According to Chandor, Roosevelt had commissioned the project, which he and Churchill both sat for. However, Stalin said he was too busy and offered to send Chandor a photograph to work on, but Chandor felt that unacceptable. It was the first painted portrait of her following her accession and commissioned by Eleanor Roosevelt. and was reported to have said that "she could not have made a better subject". In the painting, she wears the ribbon and star of the Order of the Garter. Eleanor Roosevelt saw the painting at the Wildenstein Galleries before it went on to hang in the British embassy in Washington, D.C., and thought it "one of his real masterpieces".

About 200 paintings by Chandor have been recorded, including Sara Delano Roosevelt, U.S. president Herbert Hoover, and U.S. financier and statesman Bernard Baruch. Earlier portraits include Princess Ghika and Lady Alexandra Metcalfe.

Personal life

In 1920, Chandor married Pamela Dorothy May Trelawny (1896–1971). The house was designed by the architect Joseph Pelich, mostly as a studio, as Chandor spent half the year there and half at his studio in New York City. The house was expanded in the 1940s and again in the 1960s.

He developed pneumonia in October 1952 while painting the Queen, and was treated by her physician Sir Daniel Davies. Chandor died on 13 January 1953 in Weatherford. The gardens were renamed Chandor Gardens, and kept open to the public until his wife's death in 1978. They were neglected until 1994, when Melody and Chuck Bradford bought them and spent a year cleaning and repairing the gardens and Chandor's house and studio, and began hosting weddings and garden tours. In 2002, the City of Weatherford acquired Chandor Gardens. The house and gardens are a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Douglas and Ina Chandor are buried in Weatherford's Old City Greenwood Cemetery.