Work Lowry called 'too much' at £10 valued at £1m

An L. S. Lowry painting which the artist sold in a bundle with another work for £10 because he was worried he had charged too much for it has been put up for auction with an estimate of £1m.

Going to the Mill was purchased by the Manchester Guardian's literary editor Arthur Wallace in 1926 for what would be about £520 in today's money.

The Stretford-born artist then sent Mr Wallace a note which read: "I think I've charged you too much. Can I give you another one as well?"

Simon Hucker, from the Lyon & Turnbull auction house in London, said the work was from a time when Lowry found his "unique voice" as an artist.

Going to the Mill was completed by Lowry in 1925, before he was widely known and 14 years before his first major exhibition in London.

He had, however, found some local fame, as after he exhibited work alongside two other artists in an architect's offices in Manchester in 1921, the Manchester Guardian's review stated he was someone who "may make a real contribution to art".

Going to the Mill was originally bought by Mr Wallace to be used to mark Manchester Civic Week, which celebrated the city's industrial success.

It has a price label of £30 on the back, but Lowry agreed to sell it for a third of that price.

Mr Wallace's grandson Keith Wallace said the painter had clearly been concerned about the price.

"Lowry said with great daring: 'Could we say £10?' and Grandpa wrote a cheque," he said.

"Then Lowry wrote back to him saying: 'I think I've charged you too much. Can I give you another one as well?

"So Grandpa got two Lowrys for his £10."

In a letter to Mr Wallace from 1926, Lowry wrote: "Many thanks for your letter and cheque for £10."

He said he was "very glad" Mr Wallace's wife liked the painting, adding that he wanted to "take the liberty of asking you to please accept The Manufacturing Town as a souvenir of the Civic Week".

Recently on long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, the painting has been in the Wallace family for the last century.

It has been put up for sale with an auction estimate of £700,000 and £1m by Mall Galleries.

Lowry is widely known as one of the 20th Century's most popular artists and his talents saw him become a member of the Royal Academy of Art, but he also famously turned down a knighthood and two proposed appointments to the Order of the Companions of Honour.

His painting Sunday Afternoon was sold at auction for almost £6.3m in March 2024, while Going to the Match, which was described as an "iconic masterpiece", was bought by The Lowry, the arts centre in Salford that bears his name, for £7.8m in 2022.

Additional reporting by The Press Association.

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