£25 painting expected to sell for six-figure sum at Edinburgh auction

A PAINTING of a Perthshire landscape commissioned 263 years ago for £23 and 2 shillings is expected to fetch £100,000 at auction in Edinburgh next week.

Taymouth From the South by John Sanger

The oil painting of "Taymouth From the South" was completed by John Sanger in 1757, for John Campbell, the 3rd Earl of Breadalbane and a leading figure among Scotland’s ancient noble families.

The painting, which formed part of the collection of Taymouth Castle, is the companion piece to Sanger's Taymouth from the North, which now in the National Galleries of Scotland collections and has been displayed previously in Exhibitions in Edinburgh..

The 104cm x 200cm artwork, valued at £80,000-100,000, is among several objects associated with the former seat of the Campbells of Breadalbane on the south bank of the Tay that will go under the hammer in Bonhams' Scottish Sale on October 14.

Among other pieces from Taymouth Castle in the sale are a William IV carved oak table with the Breadalbane motto "Follow Me", estimated at £3000-4000, together with 14 chairs at £8000-10,000; a pair of 19th century Lochaber axes said to have been made for the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1842; and a Victorian ram’s head snuff mull that could fetch £2000-3000.

Official records show that in April 1756, John Sanger was paid £23 2s 0d for making a picture of Taymouth. The following year he was paid a guinea for altering a picture and a further £23 2s 0d for another painting of Taymouth – precisely dating this artwork to 1757.

May Matthews, Bonhams' Scottish Art specialist in Edinburgh, said: "In the 1750s, the Castle’s policies were radically remodelled by the 3rd Earl of Breadalbane who commissioned John Sanger to make a visual representation of the new layout.

"The view from the north was completed in 1756, and the view from the south, which we are offering in our Scottish sale, was painted the following year for a fee of £23 2s 0d.

"The work is not only a beautiful and rare example of 18th century Scottish topographical painting, it is also an important historical record of changing fashions in landscaping at that time."

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