A PAINTING hung on the walls of a south Oxfordshire family for generations has been sold for £130,000, after an Oxford auctioneer recognised its historic importance.

Bravo! by CRW Nevinson was painted the year before the First World War broke out, and depicts marching soldiers being cheered by onlooking women and children.

Nevinson would go on to become one of the most famous war artists of the conflict, creating harrowing images of life on the Western Front.

But few of his paintings ever become available at auction, and little is known about his pre-war art.

All that changed when a south Oxfordshire seller, who asked not to be named, sent a photo of a family painting to Oxford’s Mallams Fine Art Auctioneers.

When art historian Philip Smith saw the image, he immediately knew it was special.

He said: “Nevinsons do not come up very often at all, and nothing like this quite early work has ever come up. He was probably one of the most important avant garde painters during World War One.

“This painting was a family heirloom. I think they knew the artist was Nevinson, but did not know how important it was.”

He added: “This is not a second rate picture. It could be a museum piece because of its academic interest.

“When I first saw the photograph, it was quite an exciting moment. I then had to do the proper research at the Bodleian and the Tate Library, to trace the history of the painting.”

Initially a £30,000 estimate was placed on the work, but last week it sold to a private buyer for £130,000 after a bidding war.

Mr Smith said: “There were eight telephone lines booked, and the room was full with interested parties and many other people eager to see what it would make. The other phone bidders dropped out at around £90,000-£100,000, leaving the private buyer, who bought it over the phone, and a London trade bidder in the room.”

He added: “The family were there, and were delighted by the result. The seller was very pleased indeed.”

The seller said: “The Nevinson has always hung on the wall of the various houses my parents lived in over the years, and I remember it from earliest childhood, so it was thrilling to discover that it was such an important picture.

“The sale has made me more interested in the artist.”

The work was probably painted in Paris in 1913, where Nevinson first became influenced by the new wave of painters including Braque, Rousseau and Picasso.

After serving in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit on the Western Front, he created a series of paintings depicting life in the trenches.