[CPProt.net] Scotland. Linklaters' insurance fear after fire

Tue Jan 3 07:46:21 CET 2006

Linklaters' insurance fear after fire
LAURA ROBERTS
January 3, 2006

FORMER Scottish Arts Council chairman Magnus Linklater fears he may be
significantly under-insured after a devastating fire wiped out his valuable
collection of Scottish art. 

A total of 14 paintings were destroyed after Christmas tree lights caught
fire during a Hogmanay party at Mr Linklater's home in Edinburgh's New Town.

Although the pictures were insured, they have not been revalued for ten
years. Two paintings by the Scottish Colourist Samuel Peploe and two by
William MacTaggart were among the collection. 

Mr Linklater said the paintings were insured for between £50,000 and
£100,000 in total. However, a sale at Christie's in October saw three Peploe
paintings fetch between £120,000 and £433,000. 

At the sale, Peploe's Pink Roses, Fruit and Books was estimated to sell for
£200,000-£300,000 but it went under the hammer for nearly £500,000. The most
expensive Peploe painting is The Black Bottle, sold for £520,750 in 2001. 

Mr Linklater, his wife Veronica and their seven guests were unable to save
any of the paintings and books because of the speed with which the fire
spread through the room. The group was celebrating Hogmanay in the
first-floor drawing room when the fire broke out at 1:20am on New Year's
Day. The Christmas tree swiftly ignited the curtains, which set the room
alight and filled the house with smoke. 

Mr Linklater said: "We just won't know how much everything was worth until
we go through each item individually. 

"Everybody is under-insured. The point for us is not the commercial value of
the pictures, but that they have been in the family for two generations and
were collected by my father from the painters themselves. My father bought
them pretty much off the easel in the 1920s and 1930s, so they have always
been in the family. 

"They were personally linked to the artists themselves and that is
invaluable." 

The most valuable pictures were all in the drawing room, which was
completely destroyed. Mr Linklater estimated the paintings were probably
worth a minimum of £120,000 to £140,000, with each painting worth on average
between £10,000 to £15,000. 

Among a collection of antiquarian books consumed in the fire were limited
edition leather-bound copies of novels by Mr Linklater's father, Eric, which
were a gift from his publisher. 

The most valuable book in the collection was a first edition work by Sir
Walter Scott. 

The family have been told they will be unable to move back into the house
for at least three to six months, and are staying with friends in Edinburgh.

Mr Linklater added: "We shall probably have to redecorate the whole house
due to the damage done by smoke and water." 

Guy Peploe, Samuel Peploe's grandson and managing director of the Scottish
Gallery in Edinburgh, declined to speculate on the value of Mr Linklater's
paintings. However, he recommended that works of fine art be revalued every
two to three years for insurance purposes. 

He said: "If you are under-insured, you are not insured. Since the major
exhibition of Scottish Colourists at the Gallery of Modern Art in 2000, the
good news has spread about the value of these artists." 

He added: "I feel immensely sad at the loss of these paintings. This is
obviously incredibly sad for the family. One of the Peploe pictures was a
portrait of my grandmother, a unique picture done in the later stages of my
grandfather's life. It is tragic." 

Patrick Bourne, managing director of the Fine Art Society and owner of
Bourne Fine Art in Edinburgh, said: "It is a good idea to revalue regularly
for insurance purposes. I would put the value of the Peploes between £50,000
to £70,000. [The] Anne Redpath, which Mr Linklater also owned, has also
doubled in value in the last four years." 

Timothy Clifford, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland,
expressed his sympathy for the Linklaters and said he would offer the
galleries' experts to see if anything could be restored. 

He said: "Magnus had some very nice paintings and it is a terrible shame. I
shall be contacting him to see if there is anything we can do to restore
some. This is a very worrying time for them." 

One painting unaffected was a portrait of Mr Linklater himself, which he had
lent to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for an exhibition of pictures
of editors of The Scotsman.

Lost artworks

Samuel Peploe: Mother and Child 
Samuel Peploe: Portrait of a Woman 
Robin Phillipson: The Boy King 
Robin Phillipson: Mending the Nets 
Robin Phillipson: Lovers 
Alison Watt: Abstract painting 
William Gillies: Landscape 
William MacTaggart: In the Garden (bought for £18,000) 
Anne Redpath: Flowers 
Victoria Crowe: Italian scene 
Meninsky (French artist): Portrait of Veronica Linklater's mother, Elizabeth
Sinclair 
William MacTaggart: Evening Glow 
Renoir etching (limited edition print) 
Goya etching (limited edition print)

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=7522006