AN OIL painting by Paul Henry set a new record for the artist at auction in London yesterday, selling for more than four times its pre-sale estimate.
The Watcher had been expected to make between £30,000 and £40,000 at Phillips in Bond Street. However, keen bidding from at least 10 potential purchasers meant the picture eventually fetched £166,500.
Phillips said the buyer was a private Irish collector, as was the nearest other bidder.
Showing a young woman standing on a rock and staring out to sea, The Watcher dates from circa 1914-1916 although it could relate to a painting of the same title exhibited by the artist at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1913.
Before yesterday's auction, the picture had never been on the market, having been given by the artist to the vendor's family.
The previous record for a work by Paul Henry was set last September at the James Adam auction house in Dublin where a canvas called The Potato Harvest went for £104,000.
This picture and The Watcher date from the years Henry spent on Achill Island after studying painting in Paris.
These works feature the human figure more often than is the case with later and better-known works where landscape predominates.
"Paintings from the early period are so direct and honest," said Ms Antoinette Murphy of Jorgensen Fine Art in Dublin after the sale. "Paul Henry created memorable images of the west of Ireland and, compared to Jack Yeats, he is still undervalued."
Mr James O'Halloran of the James Adam salesrooms said: "The early pictures which are the ones making the money now are particularly exciting."
Two paintings by the artist were withdrawn from an auction in Dublin last night after failing to meet their reserves. The oils, called A Village in the West of Ireland and River Landscape carried pre-sale estimates of £20,000 to £25,000 and £7,000 to £10,000 respectively. However, the third Paul Henry picture in the same auction, conducted by de Veres at the National Concert Hall, did find a buyer. A view of Killary Harbour, it sold for £20,000.