LS Lowry's Penshaw Monument sketch set to fetch 'up to £30,000' at auction

The original pencil drawing, simply called Penshaw Monument, is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000 when it goes under the hammer this spring.

The work is being sold by a private collector who has treasured the piece for many years. However, the sale comes “as the result of a relocation and lack of space”.

Laurence Stephen Lowry is one of the best known British artists of the 20th century. He “discovered” the delights of Sunderland in 1960 and developed a huge affinity with the then-town.

Between then and his death in 1976 aged 88, he would use Sunderland as his base when exploring the North East.

Lowry almost always stayed in room 104 at the Seaburn Hotel, now the Grand Hotel. He loved the view of the North Sea and was particularly impressed by the Bede Memorial Cross in Roker.

A collection of oil paintings and sketches by Lowry of local scenes are on permanent display in the gallery at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

During one of his many visits to Wearside he drew Penshaw Monument, a work which he later exhibited and sold through the Stone Gallery in Newcastle for £350.

John Anderson, picture specialist at Anderson & Garland said: “Lowry is unquestionably the north’s premier modern artist and is one of Britain’s best loved artists. His distinctive style captured the lives of industrial city life in northern England.”

The picture comes with the receipt from the Stone Gallery.

It will be auctioned along with an original lithograph print by Lowry titled Shapes and Sizes and a limited edition print called An Industrial Town, at Anderson & Garland Auctioneers in Newcastle on March 21, 22 and 23.

The highest price ever paid for a Lowry was in October 2022 when The Lowry arts centre in Salford bought his 1953 painting Going To The Match, which depicts fans on their way to the football. It fetched £7.8 million at auction.

Another Lowry, The North Sea, which was inspired by Sunderland, went for over £1 million, also in October 2022.