Marine artist's works 'smash' expectations at sale

A painting of fishing vessels in Whitby, by Jack Rigg, has sold at auction for £1,600 to a buyer from the Bahamas

Marine paintings by a late Yorkshire artist have sold at auction for more than double their estimated worth.

Most of the works by Jack Rigg, who died last year aged 96, had "never been seen in public before", having been kept in his home and studio in Hull.

The collection of 54 paintings "smashed" expectations by raising more than £20,000 during a sale at David Duggleby on Sunday, with bids from as far afield as the US and the Bahamas.

Dominic Cox, a fine art specialist at the auction house, said he was thrilled that the "remarkable" artist was "getting the attention and exposure that he deserves".

Auctioneers had expected the paintings to fetch around £8,000, but some lots sold for as much as five times their estimate.

London View sold for £1,900 – a record figure for Mr Rigg's paintings

Mr Cox said: "Before this auction the record price for a Jack Rigg was £1,100. That figure was equalled by the very first lot in the sale, a view of Robin Hood’s Bay painted in 1962, a time when Jack was working in a Yorkshire textile mill.

"He hadn’t even turned professional at that stage.”

The highest bid, of £1,900, was made by a British buyer for "London View", a moonlit view of sailing vessels moored on the River Thames, with Tower Bridge in the background.

An unframed painting of Scarborough Harbour, titled "Spring Tide", which was painted when Mr Rigg was 92, sold for £550, four-and-a-half times more than expected.

The collection of paintings was put up for sale by the Mr Rigg's sons, Michael, left, and Ian, centre. They are pictured with Dominic Cox, of the David Duggleby auction house

Mr Rigg was born in Leeds in 1927 and discovered a love of seafaring while on holiday with his grandfather in Whitby.

Self-taught, he began painting professionally in he 1970s, taking commissions from ship owners.

From these humble beginnings, his reputation has grown over the decades and his works now hang in Buckingham Palace and the White House.