A NEW record was set when a painting fetched for nearly £60k.

Bridport-based auction house Busby saw a Cedric Morris (1889-1982) landscape go under the hammer at a specialist fine art sale. The painting had previously belonged to Evelyn Waugh’s elder brother, Alec, and sold for nearly £60,000 - more than any other painting by the artist.

Arguably best known for teaching a young Lucian Freud, Morris, who counted avant-garde artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood among his friends, has been neglected in recent years. Morris was the only person of his generation to achieve national stature both as a painter and a plantsman.

Two exhibitions celebrating the achievements of the artist will shortly open in London.

The first is at the capital's Garden Museum - making it the first museum exhibition of his work in more than 30 years - and the second at Philip Mould’s gallery in London.

Other pictures of note that did well included two from the estate of Sir Edward Hulton, the first by Adrian Heath (1920-1992) Composition Black and Yellow, a large canvas which was bought for £36,400 by the London Trade. Heath was educated locally at Bryanston School. The second picture Hulton acquired whilst in Paris in the 1950s by Hsiao Domoto (1928-2013) realised £21,000 and will be shipped to New York.