AN oil painting of a local scene, which fetched almost £4,000 at auction, is back in the region.

Psychiatrist Dr Mark Leigh-Howarth, who works for the Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust, had to fight off competition from a collector during the auction, in Lincoln, at the weekend.

But his phone bid of £3,800 was enough to secure the oil on canvas of Richmond, North Yorkshire, by Edmund John Niemann which, coincidentally, was also owned by a doctor before being offered for sale.

"As the bidding went up, we were getting close to our limit so we were intensely relieved when the hammer finally went down,'' said Dr Leigh-Howarth, of Catterick, North Yorkshire

"I collected the painting on Monday and was quite stunned when I saw it. Although we had seen a picture of it, we had never quite appreciated how good it was until we saw it for ourselves.

"It demonstrates the changes which have taken place in Richmond over the 200 years since it was painted.

Dr Leigh-Howarth, who is married to Christina and has three children, added: "The painting now takes pride of place in our sitting room but, more importantly, it's returned to the area where it belongs."

Niemann, who died in 1876, was well-known for his landscapes, exhibited at the Royal Academy and was appointed secretary of the Portland Gallery in London's Regent Street.

Another of his paintings of Richmond Castle and the River Swale fetched £1,527 at an auction at Sotheby's in London, in May 2002.