A recently rediscovered watercolour painted more than a century ago by the renowned Falmouth artist Henry Scott Tuke is among the highlights in a new exhibition and sale of Cornish paintings this weekend.

The work, entitled Preparing the Stew, was exhibited in 1910 at The Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in London, and features two young sailors carrying out chores on board ship.

The painting has just come to light after being in an overseas private collection for many years. In that time, the picture has been off the radar to aficionados of Tuke’s work, and it does not appear in reference books about the artist.

However, Tuke, who painted many of the great ships which came to anchor in Falmouth Bay in the early part of the 20th century, kept a meticulous record of his own artistic output and compiled a detailed register of his works. This important watercolour appears in his listing for 1910, which places the scene on board the Russian barque Infatigable.

The painting will now go on display in Elford Fine Art’s Impressions of Cornwall exhibition and sale, open from 11 am to 4 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at The Alverton Hotel in Truro.

The event is devoted to Cornish painters and subjects, and features another celebrated Falmouth artist, Charles Napier Hemy, alongside many of the pioneering painters who found their inspiration and fame in the artistic colonies of Newlyn, Lamorna and St. Ives.