PORTRAITS OF Madonna by controversial artist Peter Howson are among over £4 million worth of paintings to be sold in Perthshire next week.

The works by Howson, who has caused quite a stir in the normally tranquil world of art, are included in this year’s Sotheby’s three-day sale at Gleneagles Hotel.

Howson, who was official war artist during the Bosnian conflict, was commissioned to paint the singer and actress in 2000-2001.

The interest in his work is currently high—a record price for his paintings of £64,600 was set at Gleneagles last year—and the Madonna pictures are expected to fetch somewhere between £5000 and £9000 each.

Another controversial figure who is loved by the public and celebrity patrons, but loathed by the critics, is Fife’s Jack Vettriano and he has seven classic works in the sale which include An Unorthodox Approach, which has a pre-sale estimate of £80,000 to £120,000.

In a more traditional vein there are 35 works by Scottish Colourists— who took their inspiration from French artists—including Samuel John Peploe, George Leslie Hunter and J. D. Fergusson.

The paintings, which have come from private collections, are a mixture of landscapes, portraits and still lifes.

The works by Peploe are expected to attract international interest and include probably the star lot of this section, Still Life with a Benedictine Bottle and Fruit, which is estimated at £200,000 to £300,000.

Still Life with Dahlias and Fruits, by Hunter, has a price tag of £100,000 to £150,000 while a view of the railway bridge at Largo in Fife by him is up for sale for a more modest £20,000 to £30,000.

On Monday the sale gets under way with 168 lots of vintage and modern sporting guns which should realise over £1 million.

Among the sale’s top lots will be a pair of Purdeys that belonged to the Queen’s cousin, Lord Mountbatten. They are expected to sell for between £30,000 and £40,000.

Tuesday is given over to Wemyss Pottery and jewellery, with a highlight being 72 lots from the collection of Robert Rankine, a Wemyss expert and dealer who died last year.

The jewellery sale comprises a fine selection of contemporary objects as well as many classic and period pieces from the 1830s onwards.