Auction of cat paintings gets buyers 'purring'

The Cotswold Auction Company’s sale took place in Cirencester

A set of drawings from a well-known feline artist have sold at auction for £3,000.

Six drawings by Louis Wain, whose life was portrayed in the 2021 film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, went under the hammer at The Cotswold Auction Company on Tuesday.

The Scenes from the Courts drawings feature feline characters starring as participants in a courtroom drama.

Auctioneer Lindsey Braune said: “Louis Wain’s drawings were a huge hit with the public nearly a century before cat videos took over the internet."

She added: “They demonstrate humanity’s ongoing love affair with our cute feline companions and the set of six we are offering are sure to have buyers purring.”

The artworks feature feline characters starring as participants in a courtroom drama

Prior to the auction, auctioneers estimated the drawings would fetch between £3,000 and £5,000.

They sold for £3,000, excluding the buyer's premium, at the auction company's Cirencester saleroom.

Science fiction writer HG Wells said Wain "made the cat his own".

"He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world.

"English cats that do not look or live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves," he added.