PA MediaA rare LS Lowry painting of rugby league fans could fetch up to £3m when sold at auction.
Going To The Match, painted in 1928 by the Salford artist, will be auctioned at Christie’s auction house in London, on 22 October.
The 1928 work shows crowds heading to an unknown rugby league match and is thought to depict either fans of Lowry’s local team Salford Red Devils or nearby Swinton Lions.
A 1953 work of the same name, which features a bustling throng of football fans gathered at the former home of Bolton Wanderers, sold for almost £8m in a world record for the artist in 2022.
Nick Orchard, head of modern British and Irish art at Christie’s, said: “Lowry, who was a great observer of human life, and a lover of sport, found great inspiration in the crowds that would mass to sporting events, particularly football, rugby and cricket.
“Although he also recorded the workers going to and from the factories and mills, in the sporting paintings, which are much rarer, he was able to capture the people of Manchester at rest, enjoying going to follow and cheer on their local teams.”
PA MediaThe Modern British and Irish Art evening sale will also feature other Lowry works from private collections including Industrial Landscape which was finished in 1957 and is valued between £250,000 and £350,000.
There is also 1947’s Bourton-On-The-Water, which is one of few paintings of the Cotswolds by Lowry.
It is being sold alongside 1938’s A Footbridge, and both are valued at between £400,000 and £600,000.
Mr Orchard said The Lowry in Salford, has asked if the buyer of the Bourton-on-the-Water work would loan it to the arts venue, “as it would be the only painting to represent his time in the Cotswolds on display in their museum”.