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Churchill painted "Tower of the Koutoubia
Mosque" in Marrakech following the January 1943 Casablanca
Conference, which both leaders attended. Churchill then took
Roosevelt to Marrakech to see the sun set over the Atlas
mountains.
The work is to be sold from Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie's
Jolie Family Collection, with an estimated price tag of 1.5
million pounds - 2.5 million pounds ($2.08 million - $3.47
million).
"Churchill painted nothing in the Second World War except this
one painting," Nicholas Orchard, head of the Modern British Art
department at Christie's, told Reuters.
"Churchill painted it for Roosevelt ... And so it signifies not
just their friendship but also the special relationship between
Britain and America. The other factor is that Churchill
considered his North African views to be a cut above all his
other paintings."
Churchill, who took up painting in his forties, first visited
Morocco in 1935 and painted around 45 pictures of the country,
according to Christie's.
"The record for a (Churchill) painting at auction is 1.8 million
pounds, and likely interested buyers will probably come from the
U.K. and the United States," Orchard said.
"But there's a much greater global interest, particularly in
Churchill. And so we could see Middle Eastern interest,
obviously, because of the subject matter as well as interest
from the Far East."
The painting is leading Christie’s Modern British Art Evening
Sale on March 1, where other works on offer include a portrait
of socialite Doris Delevingne by John Lavery.
(Reporting by Will Russell; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian;
Editing by Giles Elgood)
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