Onassis family to sell off painting by Winston Churchill worth $1.5m

The family of Aristotle Onassis is auctioning off a painting given to the magnate by Winston Churchill, with its value having been estimated between $1.5m (£1m) and $2m (£1.4m).

According to a report by Bloomberg, the landscape painting, titled The Moat, Breccles, was painted by Churchill in 1921 and was gifted to the tycoon over 40 years later.

“He didn’t like to give paintings away, or sell them,” Jean-Paul Engelen, the deputy chairman and worldwide co-head of 20th century and contemporary art at Phillips, the auction house for the piece, told the outlet.

However, Mr Engelen noted: “If your friend is Onassis, one of the richest and most powerful businessmen in the world, then obviously you’re going to give him something that is dear to you and that you’re proud of.”

The painting itself depicts an idyllic summer landscape at Churchill’s wife’s cousin’s property, Breccles Hall, a historic manor house in Norfolk.

“1921 was a year of extremes for Churchill,” Mr Engelen told the news outlet. “He really got back into politics, however, that was followed by the death of his mother and his daughter later that year.”

The two men became close after they were introduced by Churchill’s son Randolph in 1956, a release from the auction house reportedly explains.

The former prime minister took a number of cruises on Onassis’ world famous yacht, the Christina, where the painting was eventually displayed.

“They were aware that they had the painting,” Mr Engelen said of Onassis’ family upon his death, “and after conversations, it was decided that maybe it was something that, rather than stay in storage, should go on to the next generation of collectors.”

Phillips New York will offer the painting for sale on 23 June as part of a 20th century and contemporary art evening sale.