The painting "Lying Boy" by Zrzavý was exported abroad by Adolf Loos

London/Prague - The painting by Jan Zrzavý entitled Reclining Boy sold today at the London auction house Sotheby's for 450,000 pounds (approximately 14.7 million crowns) without the auction surcharge, making it the most expensive painting sold at auction by the artist. The actual price that the buyer will pay, according to the artplus.cz website, will be at least 119,000 pounds higher due to fees and taxes, exceeding 18.6 million crowns in total.
    The price of Zrzavý's canvas was estimated by experts before the auction to be between 200,000 and 250,000 pounds. The painting from 1912 is considered the most important work from the artist's early period.
    Several bidders raised Zrzavý's price in the auction hall to 450,000 pounds within less than two minutes, which totals 542,500 pounds including the commission. However, the buyer must also pay VAT on the commission amounting to 18,500 pounds and a royalty fee of 8,500 pounds. This will go to the National Gallery in Prague, which is the exclusive holder of the copyright to Zrzavý's work.
    Assuming the buyer is someone from the European Union, the final price will be even higher. The painting was brought to auction from an American collection and upon import into the EU, according to British law, is subject to a five percent VAT calculated on the hammer price.
    Art market expert Jan Skřivánek told ČTK on Tuesday that he believes the painting will be purchased by a Czech collector.
    In 1918, after an exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague, Adolf Loos purchased the canvas Reclining Boy and took it to Paris. The following year, it was bought from the famous architect by French-American businessman Paul Verdier, the owner of a luxury department store in San Francisco, for whom Loos designed a villa in southern France in the 1920s.
    Later, the painting, measuring 66 by 90 centimeters, passed through unidentified collections in Montreal and New York. It was last displayed in Prague in 1996 at an exhibition by the Sursum association at the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague.
    In recent years, around two hundred paintings, drawings, and graphics by Zrzavý have been sold at auctions in the Czech Republic. Including auction surcharges, collectors have paid over 50 million crowns for them.
    The previous auction record for Zrzavý, set four years ago, was valued at 10.5 million crowns without the auction surcharge. This amount was reached in November 2009 at an auction by Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery for the painting Hilly Landscape, which is from the same year as Sleeping Boy.
    Of the paintings by Zrzavý auctioned this year, the most expensive was View of Venice I from 1928, which sold at the February auction for 8.5 million crowns without the auction surcharge.