A Lowry painting of Deal beach worth about £250,000 is going up for auction at Christie’s.

The work of art by the British artist, who died in 1976, shows the foreshore lined with boats, houses and children paddling.

TS Eliot’s wife Valorie Eliot had a vast collection of famous works, including the painting by Lowry, which will now be auctioned in November to raise money for Mrs Eliot’s charity Old Possum’s Practical Trust.

Proceeds from the sale estimated at £5m will be given to the charity to continue her work of encouraging young poets and artists and offering grants to a variety of projects.

When she died last year, aged 86, her request was for her collection, described as “one of the finest collections of British art to come to the market in generations,” to be auctioned for the charity.

Lowry’s painting of Deal Beach is estimated to sell for £250,000 and according to the book Deal: All in the Downs by Gregory Holyoake, Deal was one of Lowry’s favourite venues.

However, he did not turn his sketch into an actual painting until 35 years later.

Deal Beach depicts the north end of the town with The Royal Hotel on the far left, a cluster of houses and neatly spaced boats pulled up on the shingle.

Highlights will go on public display for the first time this summer at Christie’s in London and New York.