A young East Neuk fisher lass who posed for a painting by Glasgow artist John McGhie was paid half a crown along with a bar of chocolate. Now the resulting work of art is expected to fetch around £3000 when it comes up for sale with Edinburgh auctioneer Shapes on Saturday.
The painting shows the girl shelling mussels to bait her father’s lines and it was one of the works completed by McGhie (1867-1952) as he chronicled the life and times of Pittenweem in the early part of the last century.
He was famed for paying his models what was regarded as a small fortune for each sitting and his granddaughter Nanzie McLeod, an artist and author who lives in Glasgow, said that he always preferred to use real working folk in his portraits, rather than studio models.
“He would pay local people, often children, half a crown and give them a Fry’s Cream chocolate bar for sitting for him.
“We don’t know who this girl is in the portrait.
“Shelling mussels was a terrible job but half a crown would have been far more than she was paid for baiting lines.
“I don’t know that anyone would recognise her now except from old family photos perhaps,” she added.
Paul Howard, of Shapes, said McGhie painted official portraits of lord provosts and moderators of the Kirk but is best known for his portrayal of the seascapes and working people of the east coast fishing villages.
The date of the painting is not known.