Home 2021 Winston Churchill Painting Heads to Christie’s

Winston Churchill Painting Heads to Christie’s

by S. Jack Heffernan Ph.D

Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie and Britain’s iconic wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, a keen artist who took inspiration from the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, are combining for a March 1 date at Christie’s auction house in London.

“The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque”, an oil painting Churchill produced during a World War II visit, is tipped to fetch between £1.5 million and £2.5 million ($2 million and $3.5 million), according to a Christie’s estimate.

Put up for auction by Angelina Jolie, it is vaunted in Christie’s catalogue as “Churchill’s most important work. Aside from its distinguished provenance, it is the only landscape he made” during the war.

A career army officer before entering politics, Churchill started to paint relatively late, at the age of 40.

His passion for the translucent light of Marrakesh, far from the political storms and drab skies of London, dates back to the 1930s when most of Morocco was a French protectorate, and he went on to make six visits to the North African country over the course of 23 years.

“Here in these spacious palm groves rising from the desert the traveller can be sure of perennial sunshine… and can contemplate with ceaseless satisfaction the stately and snow-clad panorama of the Atlas Mountains,” he wrote in 1936 in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

He would set up his easel on the balconies of the grandiose La Mamounia hotel or the city’s Villa Taylor, beloved by the European jet set of the 1970s.

It was from the villa, after a historic January 1943 conference in Casablanca with US president Franklin Roosevelt and France’s Charles de Gaulle, that he painted what came to be regarded as his finest work, of the minaret behind the ramparts of the Old City, with mountains behind and tiny colourful figures in front.

“You cannot come all this way to North Africa without seeing Marrakesh,” he is reputed to have told Roosevelt. “I must be with you when you see the sun set on the Atlas Mountains.”

A newspaper photograph taken at the time shows the two wartime Allied leaders admiring the sunset.

– ‘Truly remarkable panorama’ –

After the US delegation had left, Churchill stayed on an extra day and painted the view of the Koutoubia Mosque framed by the mountains.

He sent it to Roosevelt for his birthday.

“This is Churchill’s diplomacy at its most personal and intense,” said Christie’s head of modern British and Irish art, Nick Orchard. “It is not an ordinary gift between leaders. This is soft power, and it is what the special relationship is all about.”

Sold by the Roosevelt family in the 1950s, it changed hands several times before passing on to Hollywood dream couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2011, well before their high-profile separation.

A second Churchill landscape, “Scene in Marrakesh”, painted on his first visit to Morocco in 1935, is also going under the hammer at Christie’s on Monday.

That was painted while on a stay at Mamounia, where he marvelled at the “truly remarkable panorama over the tops of orange trees and olives”, in a letter to his wife Clementine.

The hotel today has a suite and a bar named after its illustrious guest.

You may also like

logo-white

Your Trusted Source for Capital Markets & Related News

Latest Articles

© 2024 LiveTradingNews.com – For The Traders, By The Traders – All Right Reserved.

The information contained on this website shall not be construed as (i) an offer to purchase or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or sell, any securities or services, (ii) investment, legal, business or tax advice or an offer to provide such advice, or (iii) a basis for making any investment decision. An offering may only be made upon a qualified investor’s receipt not via this website of formal materials from the Knightsbridge an offering memorandum and subscription documentation (“offering materials”). In the case of any inconsistency between the information on this website and any such offering materials, the offering materials shall control. Securities shall not be offered or sold in any jurisdiction in which such offer or sale would be unlawful unless the requirements of the applicable laws of such jurisdiction have been satisfied. Any decision to invest in securities must be based solely upon the information set forth in the applicable offering materials, which should be read carefully by qualified investors prior to investing. An investment with Knightsbridge is not suitable or desirable for all investors; investors may lose all or a portion of the capital invested. Investors may be required to bear the financial risks of an investment for an indefinite period of time. Qualified investors are urged to consult with their own legal, financial and tax advisors before making any investment. Knightsbridge is a private investment firm that offers investment services to Qualified Investors, Members and Institutions ONLY. Qualified Investors are defined as individuals who have met those Qualifications in the relevant jurisdictions. Members are defined as individuals who have been accepted into the Knightsbridge membership program. Institutions are defined as entities such as banks, pension funds, and hedge funds. If you are not a Qualified Investor, Member or Institution, you are not eligible to invest with Knightsbridge. All investments involve risk, and there is no guarantee of profit. You may lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Knightsbridge is not a registered investment advisor, and this disclaimer should not be construed as investment advice. Please consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. By accessing this website, you agree to the terms of this disclaimer. Thank you for your interest in Knightsbridge.
CLOSE