Oil portrait of Kitty Batten titled 'Kit' sold at David Lay's auction for £13,000.
The 23 x 18in (59 x 44cm) oil portrait by Newlyn School painter Harold Harvey (1874-1941) had lost none of its appeal as it was taken to £13,000 at Penzance auction house David Lay (18% buyer’s premium) on October 31.
Kit was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1931 and at Frost & Reed in Bristol the following year. It had been owned since the 1970s by a private collector in Penzance.
Estimated at £6000-8000, the work drew bids from a private buyer and a commission bid left by a “well-known gallery” before the latter was successful.
According to the artist’s records, the young sitter is Kitty Batten who also modelled for Harvey’s oils Rima (c.1920s) and The Young Menage (1932).
