Sir Winston Churchill, K.G., O.M., F.R.S., HON. R.A.

A gift from the artist to President Harry S. Truman, and thence by descent to the present owner

New York, New York World's Fair, 1965

David Coombs with Minnie Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill's Life Through His Paintings, Chaucer Press, London, 2003, C434, pp.182, 202 and 255, fig. 418, illustrated in black and white.

The canvas is unlined. There are four raised spots in the corners of the canvas where the nails in the stretcher appear to press against the canvas. There is another similar spot near the lower edge in the lower left quadrant. There is a tiny spot of paint flaking in the upper left quadrant where the pigment appears slightly discoloured. There is a small scratch in the upper left corner. Examination under ultra-violet light reveals a spot of fluorescence along the upper edge in the upper right quadrant which may be retouching. Held in a gilded rectilinear frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Churchill first visited Morocco in 1935 and the country quickly became one of his favourite winter painting locations. In an article written for the Daily Mail in 1936, he described how he had become particularly 'captivated by Marrakech. Here in these spacious palm groves rising from the desert the traveller can be sure of perennial sunshine, of every comfort and diversion, and can contemplate with ceaseless satisfaction the stately and snow-clad panorama of the Atlas Mountains. The sun is brilliant and warm but not scorching; the air crisp, bracing but without being chilly; the days bright, the nights cool and fresh'. Executed circa 1948, the present work is the ultimate visual manifestation of Churchill's own vivid description. Marrakech captures the dramatic view over the city towards the majestic Atlas mountains taking in the city's most famous landmark, the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque on the right of the composition.

Churchill clearly held the finished picture in high regard and gifted it to his friend and colleague, President Harry S. Truman. They first met following the defeat of Nazi Germany at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin in July 1945 (see fig.1). Stalin, Truman and Churchill, representing Soviet Russia, the United States and Great Britain respectively, gathered to discuss the future of Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. Following their initial conversations, the Prime Minister described the President as 'a man of exceptional character and ability'. After Churchill's unexpected election defeat in July 1945, he received an invitation from Truman to lecture at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, the President's home state. In March 1946, Truman and Churchill travelled from Washington to Fulton together by train where Churchill delivered his famed 'Iron Curtain' speech; 'it is my duty..to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent...'.

Five years later, Margaret, the owner of the present work, went to lunch at 10 Downing Street, London. Churchill marked his friendship and admiration for the President by giving her the present work to take back to her father. Churchill wrote to Truman and explained that 'this picture is about as presentable as anything I can produce. It shows the beautiful panorama of the Atlas Mountains from Marrakech'. Truman was understandably overwhelmed by the gift and replied, ' I can't find words adequate to express my appreciation of the beautiful picture of the Altas Mountains, painted by you. I shall treasure that picture as long as I live and it will be one of the most valued possessions I will be able to leave to Margaret when I pass on'. 

The present view is particularly significant. Churchill explained to Truman that 'this is the view I persuaded your predecessor [President Roosevelt] to see before he left North Africa after the Casablanca Conference [in 1943]. He was carried to the top of a high tower, and a magnificent sunset was duly in attendence'. Indeed, the only work that Churchill painted during the Second World War was a very similar composition, painted in 1943 in the immediate aftermath of the Casablanca Conference and which he later gifted to President Roosevelt in memory of their shared experience in Marrakech (see fig.2). The high view point was taken from the Villa Taylor where Roosevelt was lifted from his wheelchair and carried up the winding stairs to the roof-top. Reclining on a divan, the American was so taken by the scene he said to Churchill, 'I feel like a sultan: you may kiss my hand, my dear'. In his diary Churchill's doctor recorded, 'we stood gazing at the purple hills, where the light was changing every minute. "It's the most lovely spot in the world", the PM murmured'.

The gift of a similar Moroccan subject to both Presidents Roosevelt and Truman clearly underlined the importance of the location to Churchill himself. He later gave Roosevelt's Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall another Moroccan composition, View of Tinherir (see fig.3, sold in these rooms, 11 December 2006, lot 12, for £612,800) and presented President Eisenhower with a view of The Valley of the Ourika and the Atlas Mountains (see fig.4). It was at Eisenhower's invitation that Churchill mounted a large scale exhibition of his work that toured the United States in 1958. After visiting the exhibition, Truman aptly surmised that the show was 'damn good'.

We are grateful to David Coombs for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.