Lost art with colourful past up for auction

PAINTINGS which lay hidden for half a century in an Edinburgh garage are set to go under the hammer at a city auction.

The 31 oil paintings by Scottish artist Tom Robertson are being sold with the boxes they were found in after being packed away and forgotten about 50 years ago.

Robertson, who died in 1947, is thought to have stored the artworks and forgotten about them. The current owners, who are believed to be relatives of Robertson, are thought to have recently discovered the works.

City auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull have valued the paintings, which depict scenes from the west coast and France, at 14,000.

Nick Curnow, the auctioneer's paintings specialist and managing director, said: "These paintings are as fresh as the day they were painted. It seems the artist must have packed them away in boxes after an exhibition and simply forgotten about them."

Born in Glasgow in 1850, Robertson trained at Glasgow School of Art and in Paris, and painted in oil, pastel and watercolour.

He worked for a time in Venice and Paris, where he received an honourable mention at the Paris Salon in 1904 and a gold medal at Nantes in 1910.

He painted in an Impressionist style and was particularly good at dappled sunlight, often reflected on water, according to experts. He died in Eastbourne in 1947.

The paintings up for auction tomorrow include those with titles such as Silent Night, Killin, The Land of the Mountains, Loch Long and Moonlight La Rochelle, and are being sold in two lots.

Meanwhile, a rare portrait by a former head of Edinburgh College of Art is expected to sell for 3,000 when it goes under the hammer tomorrow.

Sir William Gillies is thought to have painted the artist Robert Scott Irvine while teaching new classes at the college.

Henry Scott Irvine, the son of the subject and the painting's current owner, said: "My father was a student at Edinburgh College of Art and later became president of the Students' Union.

"The portrait was painted by Gillies in 1925 when he was a part-time evening teacher and my dad earned a small crust as an artist's model in order to supplement his bursary.

"The painting was due to be re-painted white and re-used. As the background was being covered with white paint, my dad rescued it. 'I think it's rather good,' he said and Gillies allowed him to take it home."