Winston Churchill’s ‘The Tower Of The Koutoubia Mosque’ painting sold at auction

The Tower of Koutoubia Mosque a painting by former British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, which was owned by Angelina Jolie, has sold for £7m at auction in London.

Sir Winston Churchill began painting scenes of Morocco after being encouraged to visit the country by his painting tutor, Sir John Lavery. Upon his first visit in 1935, he felt that the light and scenery were unrivalled, creating some 45 paintings of the country. Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque stands out as the only painting created between 1939 and 1945.

In January of 1943, after attending the Casablanca Conference in Morroco to strategize against Nazi Germany, Churchill convinced president Roosevelt meet in Marrakech and watch the sun drop behind the Atlas Mountains. Their brief sojourn together was memorialized by the painting, which Churchill created the very next day following Roosevelt’s departure. After the conference, the two leaders demanded “unconditional surrender” from Germany, Italy and Japan – a historic declaration that had a far-reaching impact on the war.