Lowry painting fetches £530,000

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A painting by LS Lowry has sold for £530,000 at auction - almost double the expected price.

Glasgow Docks, which was painted in 1947, had been part of the Fleming Collection, the largest collection of Scottish art in private hands.

The money raised by the sale will be used to set up an endowment fund to secure the future of the collection.

Auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull said the price was a record for a Lowry painting of a Scottish scene.

Speaking after the auction in Edinburgh, the company's Philip Gregory said: "There's been so much interest from around the world, and we had a good feeling about this one."

Raise profile

The Fleming Collection was started in 1968 by a London merchant bank founded by Robert Fleming.

It aims to raise the profile of Scottish art, which it says is poorly represented in museums and galleries outside Scotland.

It is owned by the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation.

A spokesman for the Fleming Collection said: "We are very pleased by the price, which was in excess of the pre-sale estimate, and will provide a good start to the creation of the fund."

The painting had been expected to sell for about £300,000.