Christie’s posted the second-highest price at auction for LS Lowry (1887-1976) when Sunday Afternoon, one of his largest industrial landscapes, was knocked down at £5.2m. With buyer’s premium added, the price was £6.29m.
Offered with a £4m-6m estimate, the painting came for sale on March 20 from the collection of Sir Keith and Lady Showering. Sir Keith, the former chairman and CEO of Allied Breweries, Europe’s biggest drinks business, died in 1982 and had purchased the painting from Christie’s in 1967 for a then-record sum for a Lowry.
The 3ft 9in x 5ft (1.14 x 1.52m) oil on canvas dates from 1957 and is thought to be one of around 13 works created on this scale, his largest. Almost all similar paintings of that size are now held in public museums including The Lowry, Salford; Tate, London; and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.