Portrait of Loelia, Duchess of Westminster

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.