A painting by Churchill will go on the block

LONDON -- A painting by Winston Churchill, which President Harry Truman called one of his “most valued possessions” after receiving it as a gift from the British prime minister in 1951, will be sold at Sotheby’s, the auction house said Saturday.

Churchill, a respected amateur artist, painted “Marrakech” in about 1948 during one of his frequent trips to Morocco. It shows one of the city’s gates against the backdrop of the Atlas mountains.

In a note accompanying the gift, Churchill described the painting, now valued at up to $1.03 million, as “about as presentable as anything I can produce.”

Truman wrote in response: “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.”

The painting has remained in Truman’s family since he died in 1972 and is being sold by his daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel. It will be auctioned Dec. 13 at Sotheby’s in London.

Churchill’s paintings, mostly English countryside scenes and other landscapes done in oil, have recently attracted substantial prices at auction.

In July, his painting “Chartwell Landscape with Sheep,” was sold by Sotheby’s for $2.06 million, a record for the artist. In December, another Moroccan landscape, “View of Tinherir,” a gift from Churchill to U.S. Gen. George C. Marshall, was bought for more than $1.23 million.

Francis Christie, a specialist in 20th-century art at Sotheby’s, said “Marrakech” was “a superb example of Churchill at his very best.”

“The rise of Churchill through the art market over the past few years has been remarkable,” Christie said, “and we are thrilled to be bringing another of his . . . accomplished works to the sale room at a time when interest in his amazing ‘pastime’ is stronger than ever.”

Churchill was Britain’s prime minister between 1940 and 1945, leading the country to victory in World War II, and served a second term between 1951 and 1955. He died in 1965.

Truman, who served as president between 1945 and 1953, first met Churchill at the 1945 Potsdam conference that followed the defeat of Nazi Germany.