Unearthed Alfred Wallis painting sells for £20k

Self-taught St Ives artist Alfred Wallis is thought to have seen the Forth Rail Bridge - which can be seen in the bottom left - four years after it opened

A newly-discovered painting by an acclaimed Cornish artist has sold for £20,000.

The painting by self-taught St Ives artist Alfred Wallis is thought to show the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland.

The Devon-born artist spent most of his life as a fisherman and his biographer, Matilda Webb, thinks he saw the bridge in 1894 - four years after it opened - when the St Ives fishing fleet sailed up and around the British coast.

William Summerfield, from London auction house Roseberys, said: "Wallis rarely painted Scottish scenes and this long-lost work, unseen for almost a century, is a remarkable example of his virtuosic sense of colour and mood."

The painting has been in a private collection for nearly 90 years and went under the hammer earlier, Roseberys said.

Mr Summerfield added it would be "fantastic to see it in a Scottish collection".

Wallis turning to painting in the 1920s after retiring from fishing, becoming known for his "naive style and maritime subject matter", the auction house said.

Wallis began painting aged 70 to combat loneliness after his wife's death

Ms Webb said the painting of the newly-opened bridge showed Wallis, who was known to have visited the North Sea to fish for herring with the Mount's Bay fleet, was "more widely travelled than previously thought".

She believes there is circumstantial evidence he may have joined the St Ives fleet on its annual voyage in 1894, after a court case caused him "significant mental anguish" and damaged his reputation among the local community.

After retiring, Wallis began painting in 1925, aged 70, to combat loneliness after his wife's death, Ms Webb said, so would have painted the bridge from memory.

She added the auction was "well-timed" as it coincided with the 100th anniversary of Wallis' painting career, the 135th anniversary of the opening of the Forth Rail Bridge and 10 years since it was made a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The painting was given to Muriel "Robin" Rate by art collector Jim Ede, founder of Kettle's Yard gallery in Cambridge, and has remained in her family ever since.

The auction house said it would be the first time the painting had appeared on the open market.