Gallery to bid for master's lost work

The owners of The Blue Man only discovered it was the work of one of the 18th century’s greatest artists when valuers visited their home in the south of England.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is believed to be keen on acquiring the work of Swiss master Jean-Etienne Liotard, which is expected to fetch 250,000 at auction.

The pastel portrait shows James Milliken, the son of wealthy Scots merchant James Milliken of Milliken.

He died from a "fever" in Venice in 1762 at the age of 20, shortly after the completion of the picture

It was passed down the Scots family from generation to generation, including descendent Sir Will Spens, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

After his death in 1962, it was passed to an anonymous Hampshire family who hung the heirloom on the wall of their hall for years without realising its true worth. It was discovered during a routine house valuation by Dukes auctioneers of Dorchester, Dorset.

The owners were staggered when auctioneer Guy Swinge valued it in the region of 250,000.

Industry sources say the find has raised widespread interest in the art world. However, the portrait gallery in Queen Street is said to be particularly keen to land the painting as it does not own a Liotard and this one has a Scot as a subject.

Mr Swinge said: "This is a really major discovery in art terms. Liotard was one of the greatest artists of his time.

"Portraits of his like this are very rare and one recently sold for 660,000.

"This is as exciting as it gets in pastels and it is in remarkably good condition.

"This is the rediscovery of a lost masterpiece and has already aroused a lot of interest in the art world.

"We found it hanging in the hallway of this home. It had been there for years and nobody in the family had any idea of how much it was worth."

Liotard, who trained as a miniature painter, was a favourite of Royal families across Europe. He twice visited England and painted the Prince and Princess of Wales and their nine children. These portraits remain in the Royal Collection.

He commanded more money per commission than rival Joshua Reynolds who became extremely jealous of him.

Reynolds likened Liotard’s style to that of ladies who paint "for amusement".

He added: "The only merit in Liotard’s pictures is neatness; which, as a general rule, is the characteristic of a low genius, or rather no genius at all."

However, Liotard became increasingly popular because of his ability to capture the likeness of his sitters and also his skill in being able to reveal their personalities.

Excited Liotard scholar Professor Marcel Roethlisberger has now flown from Geneva to view The Blue Man and said it was possibly the finest bust-length portrait the artist ever produced.

Its preservation is also remarkable, particularly because pastel portraits from that era often suffer damage.

Mr Swinge said: "Liotard was quite an eccentric and he liked to dress as a Turk - earning himself the nickname The Turkish Painter. But he was extremely popular in royal circles throughout Europe. The fact he could charge more for a commission than Reynolds shows how sought after his work was.

"This painting is of James Milliken whose father was an incredibly rich Scots merchant.

"He took himself off around Europe with his friends when he was still young but died in Venice shortly after the portrait was finished.

"Even experts did not know it existed and Prof Roethlisberger - the world’s greatest authority on Liotard - flew from Geneva and identified it.

"He said after examining it: ‘I have only superlatives for this picture.’

"It is hard to value, but another Liotard sold for over 600,000 in 2002.

"The Blue Man could go for as much as 250,000."

Galleries, museums and individuals from all over the world are expected to be interested in the painting when it is auctioned at Dukes of Dorchester on November 4.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery today decline to comment on its reported interest in the painting.