A L.S. Lowry painting which has been with an island family for 40 years is being auctioned next month and is expected to fetch between £500,000 and £700,000.

In 1980 Chrystals Auctions sold the work, called ’The Street with Many Steps’ to a local woman for a record-breaking price of £21,500 - or £94,284 in 2020 terms.

The work stayed with the same island family for 40 years, until recently Murray Keefe (son of auctioneer John Keefe, who sold it in 1980) rediscovered the painting after the woman’s death.

Chrystals is now acting as the family’s executors and the 19- x 15-inch oil canvas piece will be auctioned next month.

The painting is signed and dated 1961, and depicts Crowther Street in Stockport, England.

Lowry is famous for painting scenes from the industrial areas of Northwest England, and his unique style is known for depicting urban landscapes with people in them, often described as ’matchstick men’.

Chrystals said that the street scene ’relates closely to other works from the 1930s in which he focuses on the groups and individual figures and their energy’.

Viewings are on August 23 and 24 from 10am to 6pm at the Nunnery in Douglas and on September 13 and 14, 10am to 6pm at the saleroom, 8-10 Allan Street, Douglas.

The auction itself will take place at the Nunnery at 3pm on September 15.