Sale of school's art fails to make grade

Fettes College, which counts Prime Minister Tony Blair among its former pupils, had hoped its collection would fetch up to 500,000 at auction.

The nine paintings by Francis CB Cadell had been hailed as "one of the most significant single collections" of the artist’s work by auction house Bonhams.

The sale’s highlight was a 1913 painting of Cadell’s studio which was located on the same street as Bonhams’ current premises.

Studio Interior, 130 George Street was expected to fetch up to 200,000 yesterday but it failed to meet its minimum sale price and was withdrawn.

But auctioneers were confident that the painting would still be sold in private transaction in the near future for as much as 130,000. Seven other paintings from Cadell’s Iona series raised nearly 250,000 collectively.

All of the works were sold in the end, with Iona going for 59,450 and White Sands, Iona reaching 66,050, including the auction house’s premium.

The Sound of Iona sold for 38,400, Iona (The Island of Lunga) for 30,500, Iona (The Dutchman’s Cap) for 29,000, Cow Grazing on Iona for 9645 and Iona, Looking for Mull for 6630.

On the Parade Ground netted another 9042 while a Samuel Peploe work owned by the school also brought in 2400.

The lots were sold alongside two other paintings by Cadell not owned by Fettes on the third and final day of the auctioneers’ annual Scottish Sale.

A spokeswoman for Bonhams said: "We are confident that Studio Interior, 130 George Street will sell shortly. I’m sure the school will be happy with the results."

The profit from the sale is expected to go towards a ten-year redevelopment of the establishment, which also counts former Rangers FC chairman David Murray among its famous alumni.

The paintings were part of a 1961 bequest to Fettes from the former school doctor, AB Flett.

Headmaster Michael Spens said: "Fettes College is delighted with the monies raised at the auction. We have realised more than 250,000 to help fund our development plans, part of which includes a new art centre."

Francis Cadell was born in 1883 to an Edinburgh family which, unusually, supported him in his chosen vocation as an artist. At the behest of Glasgow School painter Arthur Melville, Cadell’s mother took him to Paris for three years at the age of 15.

But although he made short trips to Venice and the south of France, he focused on the Scottish landscape and the bourgeois lifestyle of his peers.

The offered group of Cadell’s work at the auction gives an overview of his career. Works by Cadell’s fellow Colourists - JD Fergusson, Samuel Peploe and George Leslie Hunter - were also on offer at yesterday’s auction. Seven oils by Scotland’s most popular contemporary artist, Jack Vettriano, attracted the eye of keen buyers.

Vettriano’s The Singing Butler smashed the record for the highest price paid for any Scottish painting when it sold at auction in April this year for more than 700,000.

Now in its fifth year, Bonhams’ Scottish Sale featured 1000 lots. The three-day auction, which has become an integral part of Edinburgh’s festival season, raised around 1.5 million, making it one of the largest auctions in the UK outside of London.