A stunning painting of Scarborough’s iconic Grand Hotel has gone on display in the foyer of the town’s Art Gallery – and Scarborough Museums and Galleries is looking for help in identifying the artist.

Believed to have been painted around 1867, the year it opened - it was both the largest hotel and the largest brick structure in Europe at the time - the pen, ink and wash on paper image depicts the famous hotel from a location just above the Spa.

Andrew Clay, Chief Executive of Scarborough Museums and Galleries, said: “We can guess from its detail and accuracy that it was made after the hotel was completed and is likely to have been specially commissioned, but we don’t have any records about the painting or the artist. We’d love to know who they were!”

The Grand Hotel was designed by architect Cuthbert Brodrick, an architect also known for a number of public buildings in Leeds, including the Corn Exchange, the Mechanics Institute (now the City Museum) and the Town Hall. His grandiose, European-influenced style was very popular with an upper middle class Victorian society that had a strong sense of its own importance.

The Grand Hotel is often described as a calendar hotel, architecturally reflecting the elements of a year: four towers representing the seasons; 12 floors for the months; 52 chimneys marking the weeks; and its original 365 rooms equating to the number of days. Its V-shaped design honoured Queen Victoria.

If you do know anything about either the painting or the artist, please contact Scarborough Museums and Galleries at: info@scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk