Praying Hitler on display at Churchill's birthplace
- Published
An artist whose work "regularly defies good taste" has launched an exhibit featuring a praying Adolf Hitler at Sir Winston Churchill's birthplace.
Italian Maurizio Cattelan, known to some as the "prankster" of the art world, has brought a number of his provocative works to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
As well as the model of the Nazi Party leader rendered as a kneeling schoolboy, the installation also includes a statue of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite.
But the crowning achievement may be a fully functioning 18-carat gold toilet, famously offered to US President Donald Trump in 2017.
Visitors will be free to use the palace's throne, but Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill has previously encouraged guests not to spend too long enjoying the luxury loo.
![Adolf Hitler model](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/12029/production/_108796737_gettyimages-1174130230.jpg)
The model of Hitler as a kneeling schoolboy is named Him
![Gold toilet](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/87D1/production/_108796743_gettyimages-1174134230-1.jpg)
The gold toilet, named America, has been interpreted as a comment on excessive wealth in the US. It made headlines in 2017 when New York's Guggenheim museum offered it to Donald Trump after refusing his request to borrow a work by Vincent Van Gogh. The White House's response is unknown
![Hitler model](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/2377/production/_108797090_gettyimages-1174130242.jpg)
Maurizio Cattelan has built his career on evasion, trickery and subversion
![Union Jacks](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/2629/production/_108796790_gettyimages-1174134606-1.jpg)
"Victory Is Not An Option". A gigantic walkway made up of Union Jacks marks the approach to the palace
![Pinocchio](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/E979/production/_108796795_gettyimages-1174133881.jpg)
"Daddy, Daddy", which shows Disney character Pinocchio face-down in a fountain, is reminiscent of Banksy's 2015 Dismaland project
![La Nona Ora](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/18235/production/_108796889_gettyimages-1174131033.jpg)
Cattelan is known as the "prankster" of the art world. Here is "La Nona Ora", a realistic model of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite
![Horse hanging from ceiling](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/C2CD/production/_108796894_gettyimages-1174138046.jpg)
Why this long face? "Novecento", a taxidermy horse suspended from the ceiling
![Miniature replica of the Sistine Chapel](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/14801/production/_108796938_gettyimages-1174156893-1.jpg)
Unitled is a miniature replica of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
![200 taxidermy birds](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/8899/production/_108796943_gettyimages-1174130313.jpg)
Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation, said he was "delighted" to welcome Cattelan's work to the 18th Century palace
The display by Cattelan, the sixth artist to have a solo exhibition at the palace, will last until 27 October.
- Published5 May 2019