Norfolk artist’s oil painting expected to fetch around £10,000 at London auction

Edmund Blair Leighton (Image: Archant)

The picture, titled The Gallant Suitor, was painted by Leighton in 1890, probably at his cottage in Kirby Cane, near Beccles.

Kara Lysandra Ross, a leading authority on the work and life of Leighton, said: 'Edmund Blair Leighton did many of his smaller paintings during his summers in Norfolk, where he leased a cottage called Kirby Green. It was on the estate of Kirby Manor and was located across the street from the old church at Kirby Cane. The porch, home and garden were used in several of his paintings, including The Fate Of The Rose.

'The Waveney river that runs through the area and down into Suffolk was also used with much frequency and much of the area surrounding as well.'

Leighton's paintings - which he frequently exhibited at the prestigious Royal Academy in London during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – are instantly recognisable as they mostly feature scenes from the Medieval and Regency eras.

Ms Ross said: 'Edmund Blair Leighton hit his professional peak in and around 1900, painting his most famous works - God Speed (1900) and The Accolade (1901). Both these works can be found in almost every poster shop around the world and can be seen on pillows, handbags and numerous other accessories, permeating our culture as the epitome of our modern conception of medieval legend and romantic sentiment.'

The ten inches by thirteen picture is expected to fetch between £8,000 and £12,000 at Bonhams in London on January 21. Last May at Sotheby's in London, a world auction record for a Leighton painting was set when his picture, A King And A Beggar Maid, sold for £662,500.

•Have you got a story from the Beccles area? Email amy.smith@archant.co.uk