A friendship at the heart of the collection

Maze’s friendship with Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill forms the heart of the collection being offered. Ivor was an early and passionate collector of modern French painting, and through Maze was introduced to artists including André Dunoyer de Segonzac and Simon Lévy. His collection reflected a highly individual eye, and his enthusiasm for Maze extended well beyond the artist’s better-known depictions of Goodwood, Cowes and other sporting events.

For Jeanne, Maze was also an important influence on her own development as an artist. She remembers being encouraged by him from an early age, recalling how, after she showed him a painting she had made on the wall of her bedroom, he sat quietly for several minutes before telling her “You could be a painter, but you have an awful lot to learn.” It was, she says, the first time she understood that she had “permission to try”.

A generous and flamboyant character

This generosity of spirit extended to Maze’s relationships with the people around him. Robert remembers arriving for lunch with Maze the day after passing his driving test, having driven his mother’s car into a tractor on the way. Maze’s response was characteristically celebratory “We’ll open a bottle of champagne.” Jeanne recalls the same exuberance at a dinner following Maze’s 1977 exhibition at Wildenstein, where he danced with Robert and seemed to hold the entire evening together.

Yet beneath the flamboyant personality was a serious and perceptive painter. Maze was fascinated by the fleeting nature of experience, the movement of a crowd, the changing light across a landscape, the atmosphere of a harbour or the energy of a racecourse. As Jeanne explains, “there was always this feeling of catching a moment and making the movement”.

Immersed in the action

His approach to painting the races was particularly characteristic. At Goodwood, Maze would sometimes position himself at the centre of the course, just beyond the finish line, with the jockeys instructed to divide around him as they raced past. Rather than observing from a distance, he wanted to be immersed in the action – to experience the movement before translating it onto the canvas.

This same instinct can be seen in his depictions of the sea. St Malo, which Jeanne describes as one of her favourite works, depicts boats in the harbour, capturing the calm of the scene while conveying a remarkable sense of colour, light and atmosphere. “It’s a happy moment", she reflects. “It has such big atmosphere to it”.

A friendship with Winston Churchill

Maze’s ability to convey atmosphere was perhaps one of the qualities that most connected him with Sir Winston Churchill. The two men first met on the Western Front in 1916 and developed a lifelong friendship, regularly painting together in France during the 1930s. Churchill regarded Maze as an important artistic mentor, famously describing him as a source from which he could “drink from the fountain of knowledge”.

Their correspondence, part of the family archive, offers a fascinating glimpse into their friendship. One letter, written by Churchill in 1927, thanks Maze for sending him a copy of The Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and expresses his hope that they might meet again. Decades later, Maze would continue to occupy an important place in the Churchill family’s story.

A collection shaped by personal connections

For Jeanne and Robert, the forthcoming sale represents more than the dispersal of a collection. These are works that have been lived with, remembered and cherished across generations. Many were selected because they reflect Lord Ivor’s particular taste, while others carry deeply personal associations with Maze himself and the wider family history.

It is also an opportunity to look again at an artist whose reputation can sometimes be narrowed by his most familiar subjects. “He’s a much more complicated artist than sometimes he’s given credit for”, Robert observes. “Less of a social artist in many ways”.

Beyond the celebrated racecourses and regattas lies a painter deeply attuned to the changing world around him: to the atmosphere of a landscape, the movement of water, the bustle of a crowd and the fleeting quality of light. His paintings are records not simply of places and events, but of moments experienced.

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Auction Details

Wednesday 21 October, 11.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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Viewing at Dreweatts London (highlights): 16-17 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5LU
Monday 12 October: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 13 October: 10am-7pm
Wednesday 14 October: 10am-4pm

Viewing at Dreweatts Newbury: Donnington Priory, RG14 2JE
Saturday 17 October: 10am-3pm
Sunday 18 October: 10am-3pm
Monday 19 October: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 20 October: 10am-4pm

Further information
General enquiries: + 44 (0) 1635 553 553 | pictures@dreweatts.com
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