A RARE Parisian work by one of Scotland's most famous painters, JD Fergusson, could reach a record price at auction later this month.
As part of the Sotherby's Scottish Art sale on 20 November on London, The Open Air Fete is being sold for a estimated price of up to £300,000.
The painting was sold at Christie's in 1979, but has been in a private collection in Edinburgh ever since: now it is part of the annual auction, which features a range of Scottish artists, and includes a watercolour by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Winter Rose, by the architect and artist, was painted by Mackintosh in 1916 and is being sold by a male collector.
The painting was created by Mackintosh after he stayed in the Suffolk village of Walberswick, and while he was working and living in Chelsea, London.
However, unlike the stylised roses of other paintings and design works, the watercolour is a realist depiction of the flower.
A Fergusson, The Pink Box, sold at Sotherby's in 2006 for £256,000, the existing record for a work by the artist at the auction house: that price was exceeded by the sale of Poise at Christie's in 2014 for £638,000, which had an estimate of £120,000.
Thomas Podd, the Head of Scottish Art at Sotherby's, said he expects there to be lot of interest in the Fergusson work.
"I think it is a really important work, one of the best early Fergussons we have seen," he said. "At this point in time, Fergusson was having a great time in Paris and its cafe culture, and this painting also clearly points in some of the directions we was going to."
Fergusson, from Edinburgh, moved to Paris in 1907 and The Open Air Fete dates from that year.
He was particularly struck by the Bohemian atmosphere of the Montparnasse area, where he lived and worked, and where he became close to the circle of artists working at the time, including Matisse, Derain, Delauney and Pablo Picasso.
The painting depicts the outdoor terrace of the restaurant, the Pavillon d’Armenonville, in the Parc de Bagatelle near the Champs Élysée.
A woman with a fashionable hat was probably based upon sketches of Anne Estelle Rice, a fellow artist and Fergusson’s partner in Paris.
Fergusson and Rice met in 1907 and he painted her on many occasions.
Mr Podd said he expected there to be keen interest in the colourful painting: over the past two years, Sotheby’s Scottish Art sales have totalled £9.4 million, including the £4.5 million total for The Colourists: Pictures from the Harrison Collection.
Two paintings of Glasgow by Joan Eardley will also be popular, he noted.
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