A “long-lost” painting by self-taught Cornish artist Alfred Wallis, thought to show the Forth Rail Bridge, is to be sold at auction.
The untitled artwork, which has been in a private collection for nearly 90 years, will go under the hammer at Roseberys in London next month with an estimate of £20,000-£30,000.
It will be the first time the painting has appeared on the open market.
Wallis (1855–1942) was born in Devon and worked as a fisherman before turning to painting in the 1920s, becoming known for his naive style and maritime subject matter.
His work is said to have had a major influence on early British Modernists including Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, who first discovered his work on a trip to St Ives in 1928.
The artist’s biographer Matilda Webb has suggested the untitled work going under the hammer shows the Firth of Forth, with the Forth Rail Bridge in the bottom left.
Wallis would have seen the bridge in 1894 when he was working on the St Ives fishing fleet, which sailed up and around the British coast, before travelling east along the Forth and Clyde Canal and then the Firth of Forth.
William Summerfield, director and head of modern British and 20th century art at Roseberys, said: “Wallis rarely painted Scottish scenes, and this long-lost work, unseen for almost a century, is a remarkable example of his virtuosic sense of colour and mood.
“It would be fantastic to see it in a Scottish collection.”
A pencil inscription on the back of the painting reads “Robin from Jim, 1936”, which experts said links the work to collector and curator Jim Ede, founder of Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge.
Ede was one of the most prolific collectors of works by Wallis, acquiring more than 120 of his paintings in the 1930s.
He gave this picture as a gift to his friend Muriel “Robin” Rate and it has remained in her family ever since.
Matilda Webb, author of Alfred Wallis: Child Pauper To Artistic Luminary, said: “This magnificent painting reflects Alfred Wallis’s impression of the engineering marvel that was the newly opened Forth Rail Bridge, and his journey down the Firth of Forth on his way to the North Sea herring grounds.
“Having been in a private collection since 1936, it is a significant discovery – showing Wallis was more widely travelled than previously thought.
“This year is the 135th anniversary of the opening of Forth Rail Bridge, and 10 years since it was made a Unesco World Heritage Site, so it is well-timed to come to auction.”
The painting will feature in the Roseberys modern British and 20th century art auction on Tuesday September 9.
