A “lost” painting by an Aberdeen artist who died in a train disaster has sold for nearly £120,000 at auction.
Robert Brough, born in 1872, showed artistic talent from a young age and went on to be one of the most prolific artists of his time.
However, his career was cut short at 32 when he died in a train accident in Yorkshire while travelling to London in a sleeper train.
Six people died in the tragedy. Brough was trapped in his cabin and was taken to hospital but died two days later from his injuries.
Sweet Violets was ‘masterpiece’ of era
Now one of his paintings, Sweet Violets, has sold for £118,950 at an auction in Edinburgh.
The artwork was one of the most sought-after pieces in the Scottish Paintings and Sculpture summer sale by Lyon and Turnbull, which sold for more than £1.6 million combined.
Sweet Violets, which is a portrait of society beauty Barbara Staples in his Union Street studio, was the pinnacle of Brough’s short career and is considered to be one of his masterpieces.
It was bought by Alexander Ogsten of Ardoe House, who refused many offers to buy it.
Brough’s artwork ‘lost’ for decades
Despite several attempts from the Staples family to buy it, they were only able to purchase it in 1960 following a Munich exhibition.
It became a treasured family heirloom and remained private for many decades, which led to concerns that it had been lost.
An article in Country Life magazine in the 1990s searching for the missing painting prompted the family to come forward.
It was displayed at Aberdeen Art Gallery in 1995 as part of an exhibition dedicated to Brough and was thereafter bought by the most recent seller.
Brough’s legacy continues in Aberdeen at Gray’s School of Art, where he studied himself, in the form of the Robert Brough Memorial Scholarship to help young artists travel to enhance their work.
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