A FAMOUS painter’s portrait of stage and screen star Mary Marshall will be auctioned on Thursday. Sir Claude Francis Barry’s work is expected to sell for between £6,000 and £8,000.

The oil, which was painted in St John, Jersey, in 1963, is 53ins wide by 62ins high. Ms Marshall (pictured) is selling it along with three letters that the artist wrote to her relating to the painting and a 1963 Paris Salon catalogue in which the work is featured.

‘We live in a bungalow with lots of glass so we don’t have the space for it. I felt it was undermining the work of Sir Claude to have it sitting in a storeroom,’ she said.

The picture (left) was painted while Ms Marshall was performing in an Old Time Music Hall production, put on by her first husband, entrepreneur Sydney James. Sir Claude had moved to Jersey to live with his friend, Tom Skinner, and his family. The work captures Ms Marshall in her stage costume of the time – a red-velvet dress with a gold-lame panel.

• The sale will be held at Ewbanks Auction Rooms, Burnt Common, London Road, Send, Woking, Surrey. Viewing is possible tomorrow between 10am and 5pm and on Wednesday from 10am to 8pm. Ewbanks can be contacted on 01483 223101.