Cedric Morris works going under the hammer

This painting (front side) was gifted to Ms Shaw-Lawrence by Morris during her time at the school and has been held by the family ever since

A never-seen-before artwork has been valued at £30,000 to £50,000 ahead of it going under the hammer next month.

Cambridge-based auctioneers Cheffins will auction off work from Cedric Morris, who founded the East Anglian School of Painting & Drawing in Essex before moving it to Suffolk.

The artwork, a double-sided painting of a Welsh landscape and a Welsh cottage, was believed to have been completed by Morris in the 1930s and he gifted it to Bettina Shaw-Lawrence, one of his students.

Brett Tryner, a director at Cheffins, said works by Morris had increased in value by "at least ten-fold in the past decade" following the sale of three of his paintings as part of David Bowie's estate in 2016.

The artwork, estimated at £30,000 to £50,000, has a view of a Welsh cottage painted on the reverse

The work, which will be auctioned off on 27 February, was given to Cheffins to auction by the Shaw-Lawrence family.

Mr Tryner explained Bettina Shaw-Lawrence had been a well-regarded artist in her own right and initially attended art classes by the painter Fernand Léger in 1938.

She returned to London at the outbreak of World War Two and began an on-off relationship with Lucian Freud, also one of Morris's students.

She was a part of the painting and drawing school from 1940 and studied under Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines.

The school had opened in Dedham in Essex, but after a fire it moved to Hadleigh in Suffolk.

'Tidal wave' of interest

The auction will the first time the painting has been available on the open market.

"Cedric Morris is arguably one of the most sought-after artists in the post-modern market," said Mr Tryner.

"With his creation of the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, Morris would directly influence the works of some of the UK's most famous artists, including Lucian Freud, Maggi Hambling and Prunella Clough.

"There has been a tidal wave of interest in Cedric Morris in recent years and his impact on both art and gardening."

He added the school, otherwise known as the Benton End Group, became a sanctuary for like-minded artists, poets, gardeners and writers.

In 2022, Cheffins' sold another piece by Cedric Morris, which he had gifted to artist Lucy Harwood, for £44,000.