Who, what, where?

The Staithes Group artist’s Edwardian canvas of a mother and child in a kitchen was recently rediscovered after 40 years in a private Yorkshire collection. But its appearance at Christie’s in London, where it fetched £27,500, against an estimate of £10,000-£15,000, has left several unanswered questions.

Who are the figures depicted, when was it painted and, more importantly, where was the cottage?

The artist’s great-nephew, John Croft, who researched the painting for inclusion in his forthcoming catalogue raisonne of her work, is unsure.

Here are the clues: It appears to have been executed between Laura and her husband, Harold’s, first trip to Laren, in Holland, in 1905 and the couple’s departure from Yorkshire to Cornwall, in 1908.

After their wedding, in 1903, the Knights usually stayed with a Mrs Bowman when returning to the Staithes area and between visits to Laren. She lived in nearby Roxby. Laura painted similar pictures using their landlady’s cottage as a background but this painting does not resemble it.

According to textile specialists, the decorative stitching on the woman’s skirt is typical of north-east England, which would appear to rule out Holland as the setting.

So it could be another cottage in tiny Roxby, somewhere in Staithes – or, as one collector has suggested, in nearby Cowbar. Anyone think they recognise it?

Brandon Lindberg, specialist in British Impressionist pictures at Christie’s, says the riddle may never be solved. “We have tried to cross-check it with other interiors but have drawn a blank.”

Strangely, the painting with the infuriatingly vague title was the only Laura Knight painting to find a buyer.

Two others failed to meet their reserves, as did one by husband Harold. Of local interest Frederic, Lord Leighton’s Head of a Girl in a White Dress went for £75,650 and John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Twilight made £91,250.

A final word on the Knights. They walked three miles across fields in all weathers to the tiny cottage they used as a studio in Staithes – then back to Mrs Bowman’s at Roxby each evening.

The timber-beamed building has been restored for use as a cosy studio-cum-cottage.