STUNNING paintings of Whitby and Scarborough by leading Victorian artist John Atkinson Grimshaw are set to fetch up to £470,000 at a London auction next month.

Top price, of up to £350,000, is expected for Grimshaw's spectacular image of Whitby, painted in 1877, and showing boats, a terrace of houses on the north side of the river and, on the other, the headland topped by the town's abbey.

Lights from houses dotting the headland are reflected in the gently rippling water of the 32in by 48in picture.

Grimshaw had a particular affection for Whitby, painting there from about 1867 onwards.

The other painting for sale depicts a rainy night in Scarborough, with near-deserted streets.

The 1875 street scene - a relatively early example of Grimshaw's series of views of the Yorkshire town and typical of his special brand of industrial landscape - is estimated to fetch up to £120,000.

Both are being offered at a Sotheby's sale of important British pictures in London, on Thursday, June 14, after surfacing from private sources.

Within easy range of Leeds, his home town, Grimshaw came to regard Scarborough as a second home - he even rented a house there, which he called Castle-by-the-Sea.

His twins, Lancelot and Elaine, were born in Scarborough in 1877, and the family continued to spend holidays in the town until the mid-1880s.

Works by him are on display in the Tate Gallery in London, Harrogate, Leeds, Preston and Scarborough.