'Rent' painting fetches £250,000

The painting had never been seen in public before the auction

A painting given to a Leeds landlord in lieu of rent more than 100 years ago has been sold for £250,000 at auction.

John Atkinson Grimshaw's "Autumn Afterglow" painting of Headingley went under the hammer at Bonhams auctioneers in London on Wednesday.

He painted it in 1883, and gave it to his landlord, Councillor William Metcalf, instead of paying rent.

Bonhams said the piece had remained in the Metcalf family and so had never been seen in public until the auction.

The head of pictures at Bonhams in Chester, Richard Hopkinson, said: "I was very excited by this painting because of its quality and because it was so fresh to the market for the first time in 116 years, having been in the same family for generations, but I was still surprised by the price it fetched."