A painting titled "Scene in Braemar," by Sir Edwin Landseer, sold for £5.9 million ($7.4 million) at auction, setting a new record for the artist's work. The piece is described as an atmospheric "sister painting" to Landseer's renowned "Monarch of the Glen."
Julian Gascoigne, senior director in Sotheby's paintings department, noted the painting's significance, calling it one of Landseer's "great Highland masterpieces." He contrasted it with "Monarch of the Glen," stating, "Where the Monarch shows the stag in the brilliance of youth, this is a darker, more epic vision: majestic, charged with tension, and iconic in its vision of the Highlands."
"The Times" praised the work in 1857 as "masterly in conception and effect" and a fitting counterpart to "Monarch of the Glen." The painting's journey to auction includes its original sale in 1857 to industrialist Edward Betts, who purchased it for £800. However, a subsequent banking crisis forced Betts to sell the work, along with his entire collection, in 1868.
Since its initial sale, "Scene in Braemar" has been exhibited in public galleries on multiple occasions. The recent auction, held by Sotheby's, saw the painting achieve a price five times higher than any previous record for a Landseer work.
