Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill's 'Marrakesh' which he had gifted to US President Harry S Truman half a century ago is to go on sale.
LONDON: Art collectors, this will probably be your last opportunity to grab Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill's 'Marrakesh' which he had gifted to US President Harry S Truman half a century ago.
Yes, Churchill's 'Marrakesh', a vibrant painting that captures the exotic colour and light of the Moroccan desert, will be up for sale at Sotheby's here later this year, 'The Times' reported on Saturday.
The painting, which was presented to Truman over lunch at 10 Downing Street in 1951, has remained in his family ever since. But the former US President's daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel, is now selling it for financial reasons.
The painting is expected to fetch 500,000 pounds.
"Such prices for Churchill have emerged recently. It is only in the past two years that he's broken the 100,000 pounds barrier," Frances Christie, Sotheby's specialist in the 20th Century British Art department, was quoted as saying.
According to her, although 'Marrakesh', as a Moroccan subject, is comparable in colours and tones to the 'View of Tinherir', which sold in December for 612,800 pounds, "this work is arguably superior in both composition and provenance".
Churchill (1874-1965), who came to painting late, at the age of 40, gave his most prized paintings to people he admired and wanted to honour with the most personal of gifts.
Presidents Roosevelt and Eisenhower, Viscount Montgomery and General George C. Marshall were among those who received such tokens of friendship and respect.
With his gift, Churchill had enclosed a note: "This picture... is about as presentable as anything I can produce. It shows the beautiful panorama of the snow-capped Atlas mountains in Marrakesh. This is the view I persuaded your predecessor (Roosevelt) to see before he left North Africa after the Casablanca Conference (in 1943)."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}