This analysis seems to have been borne out by the price achieved by Henderson's substantially sized canvas, right, offered at the Glasgow rooms of McTear's (15% buyer's premium) on August 27. Henderson was highly rated by his contemporaries for his ability to paint the sea. The delicacy and meticulousness of his technique was fully in evidence in the signed and dated 1875 canvas Baiting the Line, right, which had emerged in untouched and unlined condition from a Dunbartonshire deceased estate.
There are a number of versions of this painting, but, at 2ft 10 1/4 x 4ft 6 1/4in (87cm x 1.38m), this must surely be one of the largest to have appeared on the market. The painting had been reframed over 30 years earlier by the Loch Lomond dealer Alisdair Kerr, whose label appeared on the frame and who may well have been the previous vendor.
Helped by what the auctioneers called an "interest grabbing" estimate of just £2000-4000, the bidding rose to £10,000, tendered by a Scottish dealer and underbid by a private collector - a sum which some might regard as pretty good value for such a high-quality Victorian oil painting.
