WILLIAM ACTON (BRITISH, 1906-1945)

William Acton was the short lived younger brother of Sir Harold Acton, art historian and aesthete. The Actons had been raised by their parents at La Pietra, a villa outside Florence, where their neighbours included the Sitwell family, and Gerald, Lord Berners who was a friend of Salvador Dali.

Few other portraits by the artist are widely known. A series of pencil drawings of the Mitford sisters has been extensively published, but his work rarely appears at auction. A similar portrait sold, Christie's, South Kensington, 23 March 2016, lot 100.