Head of a Dancer
Bronze · Lucien Artaud · 1947
£80,000–£120,000
Lot 87 · Modern British & European
Night Orchard,
Night Orchard,
after the rain
Emilia Varos 1901–1972
First appearance at auction · Property from the Harcourt Collection
GVA
Line 3
Line 3
NYC
Line 8
Line 8
HKG
Line 2
Line 2
Lamp off · tap to examine
Estimate £320,000–£450,000
Registered bidders 143
Room temperature 20.5°C
87/100
Catalogue Essay · Dr. Sabine Roth
A landscape remembered
by touch, not sight.
Varos painted the orchard at Lyras only once, three weeks after returning to the family house in October 1938. The canvas is not an inventory of trees so much as a record of weather moving through them: rain is scored directly into the casein surface; five vermilion fruits hold the composition like low notes in a chord.
“
The moon is not above the orchard. It is caught inside it.Letter to Tomas Vale, 9 November 1938
The work’s unusual scale places the viewer among the trunks. Under raking light, the lower passage reveals a buried ochre path and the imprint of a coarse linen repair—evidence that Varos changed the painting’s edge while it was still wet. The silver rain marks, spare and nearly vertical, arrive last.
- Artist
- Emilia Varos
British–Hungarian, 1901–1972
- Executed
- 1938
Lyras, Kent
- Medium
- Oil & casein
on Belgian linen
- Signed
- Lower right
“E.V.” in pale ochre
Unbroken custody · 88 years
The long road
from Lyras.
Each transfer is supported by an invoice, exhibition label or family letter. The work has not appeared at auction before tonight.
- The artist’s studioLyras House, KentStudio ledger EV/38/41
- Tomas & Elin ValeGifted by the artist during wartime evacuationLetter dated 14.VI.40
- Vale Family TrustCamden Square, LondonBy descent
- Harcourt CollectionAcquired privately through Bell & StrandInvoice BS-98114
- Property of a family collectionOffered at Vesper, LondonTonight · Lot 87
No hidden arithmetic
If the hammer falls
at £480,000.
The buyer’s premium uses Vesper’s published stepped rate. VAT applies to the premium, not the hammer price. This work is outside Artist’s Resale Right.
Hammer price£480,000
26% on first £300,000£78,000
21% on balance£37,800
VAT at 20% on premium£23,160
Artist’s Resale RightNot applicable
Total payable Settlement within 7 calendar days£618,960
Effective uplift28.95%
Calculated
live
live
Examined 28 June 2026
Read beneath
the surface.
A−
Stable & exhibition-ready
Minor historic intervention; no structural concern.
01 Support & tension Open report
Original medium-weight Belgian linen, wax-resin lined in 1961 by P. Morland & Sons. Tension is even. The lower left tacking margin carries a 4.2 cm historic mend, not visible from the face.
02 Paint surface Open report
A fine, stable age craquelure follows the darker tree forms. Ultraviolet examination reveals scattered retouching below 1% of the painted surface, chiefly along the extreme lower edge.
03 Frame & display Open report
Presented in a bespoke ebonised oak and water-gilt brass frame made by C. H. Lander in 1998. Minor rubbing at lower rail. Fitted with low-reflective laminated glazing and an archival backboard.
Still to comeVesper Evening Sale
The room holds
its breath.
Red Interior, No. 4
Tempera · Alice North · 1959
£220,000–£280,000The Astronomer’s Table
Oak & brass · Copenhagen · 1924
£45,000–£65,000