A rare painting with a link to The Beatles is set to go under the hammer. Fab Four memorabilia and items linked to the band often fetch hefty sums at auction, with a copy of their 1965 “Help” record signed by all of the members of the band selling for £10,000 last October.
The original owner got Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison’s autographs at the Liverpool Adelphi Hotel in 1965. This followed their sold-out shows at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, which would be the last time that the Fab Four would perform live in the city.
Also last October, the recording console used by the band to record their penultimate album “Abbey Road” was put up for sale with a £2m asking price.
Now, a painting by a man who tutored two Beatles will go to auction. Arthur Ballard was a key figure in the Liverpool arts scene of the 1950s and 1960s and tutored John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe at the Liverpool College of Art.
Stuart joined The Beatles, then known as The Silver Beatles, in May 1960. After going to Hamburg with them, he left the band a year later to concentrate on painting.
The painting by Mr Ballard going to auction depicts a street in the Hampshire town of Fordingbridge in the 1950s.
Toby Lennox-Hilton, paintings and Asian art specialist at Wotton Auction Rooms, said: “It’s a very sweet painting of rooftops in a residential street by Arthur Alexander Ballard.
“The painting is inscribed on the back as being a depiction of Fordingbridge, Hampshire, dated July 1954. It’s signed in the bottom left corner with the monogram AB and the date 54 as well.
“What’s particularly interesting about this painting is that Ballard was within the Liverpool art scene in the 1950s and 60s.
“He was a tutor at the Liverpool School of Art, while both John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe were students, and I believe that he was at their tutor.
“It’s also believed that he may have even guided Stuart Sutcliffe into pursuing an arts career over music, which he later chose to do.”
The oil painting, measuring 33 x 41cm, will be sold at Wotton Auction Rooms in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire on Wednesday August 20 and has an estimate of £300 to £500.
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