A Painting That Winston Churchill Did For Franklin Roosevelt Is On Sale For $3 Million

Among his many talents, it turns out that Sir Winston Churchill was also a pretty gifted artist.

A New Orleans antiques shop is selling an oil painting done by the onetime Prime Minister, which he gave to his friend President Franklin Roosevelt following the 1943 Casablanca Conference (via eXtravaganzi).

The painting, which depicts the Tower of Katoubia Mosque in Marrakesh and is the only painting Churchill is believed to have done during the war years, is being sold for $2.95 million by M.S. Rau Antiques.

It had a storied past before winding up in the auctioneer's halls.

According to eXtravaganzi:

The painting was passed from President Roosevelt to his son, Elliot, who sold it in 1950 to George W. Woodward, a Nebraska collector.

Woodward later sold it to author, movie producer, financier and art collector Norman G. Hickman, who served as associate producer of the Churchill-themed film, The Finest Hours in 1964. While in his possession, The Tower of Katoubia Mosque was exhibited at the New York Daily News building in January, 1965 and later at the Churchill Memorial in Fulton, Missouri during the Summer of 1970.

Upon Hickman’s death, it was passed to his second wife and then to her daughter, where it was stored in a closet for the past 15 years.