A STILL-LIFE painting which hung in a spare room for 50 years because its original owner did not like it has been auctioned for £225,000.

Pink Roses by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe went under the hammer in the sale of Scottish still lifes, fine and contemporary pictures at McTear's Auctioneers.

The oil-on-canvas was acquired by a man in Glasgow in the early 1960s, who was instructed by his wife to buy a painting of some roses. Upon seeing it, she decided she did not like it and it was put in a spare room for several decades.

It was put up for sale in Glasgow by the man's son who wishes to remain anonymous. He said the amount his father paid for the artwork "was not significant enough to remember".

Brian Clements, managing director at McTear's, said: "Pink Roses is a significant example of Peploe's work and the price paid reflects that. It may not have been to the original owner's taste but they are delighted with the price achieved and we were delighted to have the privilege of selling such an important work."

Peploe was a post-Impressionist painter and, along with John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter, was a founding member of the group known as the Scottish Colourists.