Lot 1088: Joseph (Joe) Scarborough (b.1938) ''The Return of

Joseph (Joe) Scarborough (b.1938) ''The Return of Bill ''Iron'' Hague the British Heavyweight Boxer to Mexborough Station'' Signed and dated (19)87, oil on canvas, 76cm by 102cm Sold with a typed story on the return of Bill ''Iron'' Hague after winning the British Heavyweight title in London in 1909. The picture depicts the Montague Arms, fairground, market hall and market place; with other written provenance relating to the historical element of the scene and various sketches by the artist etc Born in Sheffield, he is most famous for painting humorous scenes of Sheffield life. A face worker at the Thorpe Hesley colliery, he was inspired to paint by the contrast of the darkness of the mines and the lightness of the real world above the ground. In 1968 disenchantment with the pits led to numerous jobs - labourer, municipal park gardener and washer-upper. For years he pushed a handcart, packed with paintings round all his local pubs selling what he could in almost folkloric-like tradition, becoming at times like the characters he went on to portray in later scenes See illustration