AKIPRESS.COM - A rare painting by Sir Winston Churchill depicting soldiers leaving their families to go and fight in the First World War is expected to be sold for £250,000 ($340,350) at auction, Mail Online reports.

The former prime minister of the UK was a prolific painter and his artwork now sells for significant amounts.

In 1927, he painted 'Troops Going to the Front', which was inspired by a photograph taken by FJ Mortimer 10 years earlier.

The canvas shows soldiers waving farewell to their loved ones at Victoria Station in London as they leave to join the war with Churchill himself serving on the Western Front in 1915.

The painting is a fascinating example of a theme Churchill painted rarely, and to which he did not return after.

It will be sold by Sotheby's tomorrow and should sell for between £150,000 and £250,000.

Lydia Wingfield-Digby, an art specialist at Sotheby's, said: "It is a really rare piece of artwork by Winston Churchill. He was a prolific artist but would paint to relieve himself from the political pressures... Churchill had to do it himself so understood the evocative nature."

The statesman later gave the painting to Rab Butler, who was his private secretary during World War Two. The painting has remained in the Butler family ever since.