'Psychic' painting loved by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could fetch £24k

A PAINTING of ghostly soldiers at Gallipoli, treasured by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle after the loss of his son in the First World War, is being sold as part of the vast art collection of an Australian tycoon.

The Rearguard (the spirit of ANZAC) is a huge oil painting portraying the beach at Gallipoli, where tens of thousands of Australian and allied servicemen died in 1915.

The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps on the Turkish peninsula on 25 April – many never to return – is commemorated on Anzac Day today.

The painting by Australian war artist Richard Longstaff, who was himself wounded at Gallipoli, was bought by Conan Doyle in 1928. Longstaff claimed he painted it after a vision of steel-helmeted spirits inspired him on a visit to the Menin Gate memorial in Flanders. The ghostly, white figures of soldiers are seen creeping, or floating, up from the beach.

The artist became famous in the 1920s for six grandiose "psychic" works he painted of eerie spirit figures, including Menin Gate and Ghosts of Vimy Ridge. They had huge appeal for people still struggling to cope with the deaths of millions of young men in the war.

The Sherlock Holmes creator, born in Edinburgh, became fascinated by spiritualism after the death of his son Kingsley, wounded in the Battle of the Somme. He said of The Rearguard: "It is one of the most remarkable pictures I have ever seen."

The work has resurfaced as part of the vast collection of property developer Warren Anderson, to be sold by Bonhams auctioneers in an Australian sale in June. It is expected to sell for $Aus 20-40,000 (12-24,000).