A DRAWING of Maryport by renowned artist, LS Lowry fetched almost £40,000 when it went under the hammer last week.

The drawing, entitled ‘Church on the Quay’ depicts Christ Church, Maryport which sits on the town’s quayside.

This drawing has a direct relationship to the painting ‘On the Quay, Maryport’ painted in 1954.

It is one of about half a dozen scenes Lowry painted in Maryport during his time in the town.

The painting was expected to fetch up to £25,000 but ended up selling for £38,400.

LS Lowry visited Cumbria on numerous occasions, often staying with his friend, the collector Geoffrey Bennett.

Father Bennett was ordinated into the Anglican Church in 1962, following which Lowry would address him as the ‘Reverend Gentleman’, and when the artist died in 1976, Father Bennett conducted Lowry’s funeral service.

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‘On the Quay, Maryport’, was given an estimate of between £40,000 and £60,000 and it smashed the high-end estimate, selling for £81,000 when it went under the hammer in 2020.