Renowned Northern artist LS Lowry’s only painting that depicts Rugby League sold for more than £2m at auction.
‘Coming from the Match’, which was estimated at between £500,000 and £800,000, fetched the highest price yet at an online only sale run by well-known London auction house Christie’s.
It went for a hammer price of £1.7m, rising to £2.05m with premium (a sum charged by the auctioneer).
The seller had acquired the 1959 work, which shows supporters spilling out of a ground bordered by factories and terraced houses, for £251,650 including premium at Christie’s in 2004.
Measuring 31 x 41cm, making it significantly smaller than many of Lowry’s other works, the signed oil on canvas is said to be based on Rochdale Hornets’ Athletic Grounds, home to the club between 1894 and 1988.