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Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973)
- Port Maria

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Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973)
Port Maria
Price Realized
(Set Currency)
  • £5,250
  • ($7,676)
  • Price includes buyer's premium
Estimate
    £4,000 - £6,000
  • ($5,848 - $8,772)

Sale Information

Sale 5883
20th Century British Art including The Olga Davenport Collection
25 March 2009
London, South Kensington





Lot Description

Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973)
Port Maria
signed 'NOëL COWARD' (lower left), signed again and dedicated 'To Graham/with Heart and Soul/NOëL' (on a label attached to the backboard with a drawing of a West Indian lady in red dress), inscribed again, 'Dayroom, Firefly' (on the frame)
oil on canvas-board
11¼ x 14¼ in. (28.6 x 36.2 cm.)

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Pre-Lot Text

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Provenance

Derick Halliwell, from whom purchased by the present owner.

Lot Notes

Noël Coward first visited Jamaica in 1944 on a two week holiday. Four years later he stayed at Ian Fleming's estate while he searched for a property: 'We discussed over drinks the possibility of building a shack ... and how wonderful it would be to have such an idyllic bolt-hole to return to when life became too frustrating' (see C. Lesley, The Life of Noël Coward, London, 1976, p. 263). Coward built a series of houses commanding amazing coastal views which he named Blue Harbour. Later he built Firefly as a retreat on a deserted tract of land above Blue Harbour.

The present work depicts the view from Firefly towards Port Maria. Cole Lesley in his biography of Coward describes the view; 'spread before you is a ravishing view of the sea, with Port Maria Bay to the right, the small town almost hidden by coco-palm and banana plantations ... and above all this beauty is the long range of the Blue Mountains ... sometimes almost purple, always blue' (loc.cit.).

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