Nude painting of Bristol businessman's daughter makes a healthy profit

An oil painting of a Clifton businessman's nude daughter made its Oscar-winning owner almost a quarter of a million pounds when it was sold at auction this week.

Well-loved actor Richard Attenborough, 86, bought the painting of Mary Scott, titled Nude, in 1986. He paid £10,000 for the work, which was an original by Mary's artist husband William Scott.

It was estimated be worth between £100,000 and £150,000 but exceeded all expectations by netting Lord Attenborough the princely sum of £223,250 when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's auction house.

Mary was born in 1912 in Clifton. Her father William Lucas was from an old Bristol family, was a Freeman of the city and his family was in shipping. He owned paint manufacturing company Colthurst & Harding, now known as The Paintworks.

Her mother had studied painting in Paris and then lived at The Manor House, Chew Magna.

Mary studied at the Bristol School of Art and then at the Slade, in London, before being admitted to the sculpture department of the Royal Academy Schools in London in June 1934. It was at the RA Schools that she met William Scott, whom she married in May 1937.

Although the Scotts travelled extensively and always had a London base, much of their married life was spent in and around Bristol. Shortly after the birth of their first son, Robert, in 1940, William and Mary moved from Dublin, where they had been since September 1939, to Bristol, where they stayed with Mary's mother at Miles Road, Clifton.

The Scott painting was among 30 works of art sold by Lord Attenborough, with the whole collection fetching £4,596,150.

Nude was bought by a mystery bidder.