Rocks at Glyderfach was sold at the auction for �30,000

Twenty-eight works by the Anglesey-born painter, who died last year, went up for auction in Bath.

Rain in Nant Ffrancon made �36,000, Rocks At Glyderfach �30,000, and his favourite easy chair sold for �80.

Auctioneers said it was a rare chance "to see something of the man behind the canvas".

Royal Academician Sir Kyffin was praised as the finest Welsh artist of his generation when he died of cancer on Anglesey last September, aged 88.

Since then there has been an increased interest in his distinctive paintings - often stark oils depicting scenes of his beloved north Wales.

The items on sale showed something of the late artist's life

Jeff Muse, of auctioneers Bonhams said there had been exceptionally strong interest in the artist's works from around the UK ahead of the sale.

Fever and fervour

Also included in the sale was a pen and ink drawing of the Royal Crescent in Bath, which had an estimate of �1,500 to �2,000, but went for �3,200.

Mr Muse described it as an eclectic mix from the mundane through to the historic, and said he had always understood Sir Kyffin's close association with the Welsh contemporary art scene.

But he said: "I think what really has taken hold is something of a fever and a fervour there might be in having something that was personal to him.

"These are the things that people do not see, the king of things behind the canvas, of the man himself, that he used from day to day."

Bonhams was asked by the artist's beneficiaries to sell a number of his household items, including a red 1920s chair which visitors would recall Sir Kyffin "comfortably" sitting in, Mr Muse said.