According to CNN, Churchill painted the “Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” in Marrakech, Morocco, after attending the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, and presented it to US President Franklin Roosevelt.
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It is estimated that Churchill drew the picture shortly after this summit, during which he, Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle and General Henri Giraud formulated the next stage of their strategy to defeat Nazi Germany.
“It is the only work that Churchill painted during the war, and perhaps encouraged by that recent progress by the Allies in what they considered to be one of the most beautiful countries he has ever known,” Nick Orchard, head of modern British art, said in a statement from Christie’s Auctions.
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The “Koutoubia Mosque Tower” is perhaps the best painting of Winston Churchill due to the importance of the topic to him, and the fact that it highlights the importance of friendship between the two leaders. Roosevelt stresses the fact that Churchill held the US president in such a high esteem and points to their joint efforts to direct the Allied powers towards the outcome of World War II.
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