ONE of the largest collections of work by a Lincolnshire artist will go under the hammer next week.

John Taylors auctioneers in Louth will be auctioning 56 pieces of work by well-known Grimsby artist Colin Carr who is best known for painting scenes of Lincolnshire in his unique style.

The acclaimed artist died in 2002.

Around 90 per cent of the collection are paintings which have come from the quarterly This England magazine. The magazine was formerly based in Lincolnshire and is now produced in Cheltenham.

Auctioneer Alistair McPhie-Meiklejon said: "Some of the Colin Carr pieces have appeared in the magazine and some are private commissions. Having this amount of Colin Carr works gives a new insight into his work.

"We do consider ourselves the home of Colin Carr and we have sold a significant amount of his pieces.

"As well as his street scenes, we have more unconventional Carr pieces from Christmas and snowy scenes to more personal commissions which you do not see a lot of. It is nice to see a spectrum of his work in this way and we believe this is the largest sale of Colin Carr work.

"Because of this it is a bit unknown what they will make on the day but we hope they will do well as there is always interest in Colin Carr."

The collection includes scenes of Grimsby, Caistor and Bourne.

The sale, which will be part of the antiques, collectibles and household auction, is this Tuesday and is expected to attract a lot of local interest as well as from further afield.

Mr McPhie-Meiklejon said: "The majority of people who have bought Colin Carr are local so they do stay within Lincolnshire. A piece of his work depicting Grantham was bought by Margaret Thatcher."

The auction starts at 10am at the Wool Mart Auction Rooms in Kidgate, Louth.

For further information on the sale, call John Taylors on 01507 611107 or e-mail enquiries@ johntaylors.com