He was revered as the World War II leader who guided Great Britain and her Canadian and American allies in defeating Nazi Germany.

Fast forward nearly 80-years to this week.

That’s when a portrait of Winston Churchill (above) by an artist he loathed, went on display at Churchill’s birthplace ahead of an auction in June.

This particular painting, by modernist artist Graham Sutherland, was done in preparation for a larger portrait that Churchill hated and which was later destroyed.

The painting was commissioned to mark Churchill’s 80th birthday in 1954.  His reaction? He said the painting made him look half-witted.

It was delivered to his house and never seen again.

Churchill didn’t care much for the surviving oil-on-canvas which is expected to fetch upwards of $1-millionat Sotheby’s in London on June 6th.