Next month, Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie will auction off a painting by U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he gave to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt shortly after the two planned how to topple Nazi Germany, auction house Christie’s announced Monday.
Churchill’s Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, a painting of Marrakech’s largest mosque, will hit the auction block as part of a larger Christie’s sale dedicated to modern British artists on March 1.
Christie’s estimates the painting could sell for as much as $3.4 million, which would set a record for the price of Churchill’s artwork.
Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque is particularly noteworthy because it’s the only work of art Churchill created during World War II, the auction house said.
The day after the 1943 Casablanca Conference, where the Allies met and planned how to defeat Nazi Germany, Churchill invited Roosevelt to travel with him to Marrakech to show the president the city’s sunset.
Roosevelt was so impressed with the scenery Churchill painted the same view for him as a reminder of their trip, and perhaps as a token of the “special relationship” between their two countries, according to Christie’s.
The painting has been in various hands since Roosevelt’s son sold the Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque after the president’s death, and was purchased by Jolie and her ex-husband and fellow actor Brad Pitt in 2001.
KEY BACKGROUND
Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque is a part of the art collection Jolie collected with Pitt that includes pieces from Banksy, Dom Pattinson, and Neo Raunch and is estimated to be worth $25 million. The two are reportedly still working through divvying up their assets after divorcing in 2019.
SURPRISING FACT
Besides owning a painting by the late Prime Minister, Jolie also has two tattoos inspired by Churchill.
