elix Kelly is one of New Zealand's most interesting expatriate artists. Born in Epsom in 1914 he claimed to be two years younger most of his adult life. Kelly studied briefly, and even seems to have taught drafting at Elam School of Fine Art. He was only 21 when he left New Zealand in 1935. He never returned.

In London Kelly continued his New Zealand occupation of graphic design, working for Lintas, the advertising wing of Unilevers. He also freelanced as an illustrator and cartoonist, especially for Lilliput. His cartoons are not unlike those of the slightly younger Ronald Searle. After the war and the RAF, the focus of his graphic art shifted to book illustration, dust-jacket design and contributions on interior decoration to such fashion magazines as Ideal Home and Harper's Bazaar. In the 1950s and 60s he was acknowledged as one of England's top designers for the theatre, working with the likes of Sir John Gielgudand Dame Sybil Thorndike. Kelly's ambition had always been to succeed as a painter. Emerging in the context of Surrealism and British Neo-Romanticism, he exhibited alongside important British artists such as Lucian Freud, John Piper and fellow New Zealander Frances Hodgkins. Kelly's paintings are characterised by his interest in a world forgotten by progress, great houses falling into dilapidation, windblasted trees, abandoned locomotives often invested with an eerie watchfulness. Rapidly, Kelly assembled a client list resembling a page from Who's Who or De Brett's.

In late career, his knowledge of architecture led to involvement in house design, most notably his collaboration on the redesign of Highgrove for the Prince of Wales. His most celebrated project was, however, the mural cycle at Castle Howard associated with the filming of Brideshead Revisited in the 1980s. The painting included in this sale depicts the Mausoleum at Hawksmoors Castle Howard. The Mausoleum rises 90 feet into the air and is supported by a colonnade of 20 pillars. Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, it is one the finest free-standing mausoleums in northern Europe. Building began in 1729, but was not completed until after the deaths of both Hawskmoor and the 3rd Earl, who was originally buried in the local parish church and reinterred in the mausoleum six years later.

Still the private burial place of the Howard family and nearly one mile from the house, the Mausoleum is not accessible during a visit. However, it is easy to see from the waterfall at Temple Basin and the curatorial tea does lead special visits for the public.