LONDON – A Moroccan landscape painted by Winston Churchill and owned by Angelina Jolie sold for more than $ 11.5 million on Monday, breaking the previous record for a work by the British World War II leader.
Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque was sold at Christie’s in London for £ 8,285,000 (US $ 11,590,715). The pre-sale estimate was £ 1.5 to 2.5 million, and the record price so far for a Churchill painting was just under £ 1.8 million.
The image of the 12th century mosque in Marrakech at sunset with the Atlas Mountains in the background is a piece of political and Hollywood history.
The only painting the British Prime Minister completed during the 1939-1945 conflict was completed after the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, at which Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt planned the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The two guides visited Marrakech after the conference so Churchill Roosevelt could show the beauty of the city. Churchill gave the painting to Roosevelt as a souvenir of the trip.
The painting was sold by Roosevelt’s son after the President’s death in 1945 and had multiple owners before Jolie and partner Brad Pitt bought it in 2011.
The couple separated in 2016 and were involved in divorce proceedings for years, amid speculation about the division of their extensive art collection.
They were declared divorced in 2019 after their attorneys asked for a forked verdict. This means that two married people can be declared single while other issues, including finances and custody, remain.
The painting was sold by the Jolie Family Collection. The buyer was not immediately identified.
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