Burning Weeds, a 2ft x 20in (61 x 51cm) signed oil on canvas, was among the pictures by the Glasgow-born artist showing the influence of French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-84).
Despite being a naturalistic rural scene, it had a label on the reverse which was inscribed by Alexander Mann, 53 Glebe Place - the location of the artist’s studio in Chelsea.
The Cheffins catalogue stated that the vendor had acquired it at Sotheby’s Gleneagles in September 2004. However, records also show it had since been unsold at Sotheby’s in November 2016, against a £15,000-25,000 estimate, and also at Reeman Dansie in Colchester in June 2019 where it was pitched at £8000-12,000.
Two years on, it was given the same estimate in Cambridge on June 30- July 1 but met with a better reaction here, selling at £14,000 to a UK-based private buyer.
