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Praying Hitler on display at Churchill's birthplace

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.

News imageGetty Images Adolf Hitler modelGetty Images
The model of Hitler as a kneeling schoolboy is named Him
News imageGetty Images Gold toiletGetty Images
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
News imageGetty Images Hitler modelGetty Images
Maurizio Cattelan has built his career on evasion, trickery and subversion
News imageGetty Images Union JacksGetty Images
"Victory Is Not An Option". A gigantic walkway made up of Union Jacks marks the approach to the palace
News imageGetty Images PinocchioGetty Images
"Daddy, Daddy", which shows Disney character Pinocchio face-down in a fountain, is reminiscent of Banksy's 2015 Dismaland project
News imageLeon Neal La Nona OraLeon Neal
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
News imageGetty Images Horse hanging from ceilingGetty Images
Why this long face? "Novecento", a taxidermy horse suspended from the ceiling
News imageGetty Images Miniature replica of the Sistine ChapelGetty Images
Unitled is a miniature replica of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
News imageGetty Images 200 taxidermy birdsGetty Images
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.