Churchill Painting To Be Auctioned Off

by Sandy Maple (RSS feed)
Oct 30th 2007 at 4:02PM

Winston Churchill was a man of many talents - the master statesman was a Nobel Prize winning author as well as well-respected amateur artist. He painted Marrakech around 1948 and gifted the work to President Truman. In a note accompanying the painting, Churchill described his work as as "about as presentable as anything I can produce." The painting, which depicts one of the city's gates against the backdrop of the Atlas mountains, became one of the American president's most prized possessions, leading him declare, "I shall treasure the picture as long as I live and it will be one of the most valued possessions I will be able to leave to (daughter) Margaret when I pass on." Truman did leave the painting to his daughter upon his death in 1972 and now she is putting it up for auction. Now valued at $1.03, it hits the auction block at Sotheby's in London on December 13. The previous record for a work by Churchill was set in July, when his Chartwell Landscape with Sheep sold for $2.06 million.

Tags: art, art auction, ArtAuction, chartwell landscape with sheep, ChartwellLandscapeWithSheep, churchill painting, ChurchillPainting, marrakech, painting, president truman, PresidentTruman, sothebys, winston churchill, WinstonChurchill