Rock star Bryan Ferry is trying for the second time to sell a Victorian work of art.

The Washington-born former front man of Roxy Music, is due to put the valuable portrait Miss Margaret Macfarlane under the hammer at Sotheby's in London in December.

The oil painting could fetch up to �120,000.

Ferry put the painting up for auction in Scotland in April 2001, where it was expected to fetch �200,000. But it failed to sell.

The painting could bring �120,000 at auction

The striking picture, measuring five feet by three feet, was painted by Edward Arthur Walton at the turn of the 19th Century.

The artist is described as "one of the leading Scottish painters of his generation" by the auctioneers.

BBC TV Antiques Roadshow expert Christopher Wood said: "Walton was well known for doing portraits and this is a particularly charming one, that's why it is worth this kind of money.

"It is not unusual, I am sure there are pictures by Walton that may make more.

"I would be very happy to have this picture around. It's a delightful portrait of a girl which should sell well."

Fine art

Ferry, 57, is well known for his love of art.

He was born a miner's son but followed his father's advice and did not go down the pit.

Instead he pursued his creative interests and studied fine art at Newcastle University.

He went on to front Roxy Music and enjoy chart success as one of the most influential rock stars of his generation with a string of hits.

In April 2001 the painting, exhibited for the first time in 1902, was unsuccessfully put up for auction at Sotheby's in West Lothian.

Walton was one of a group of Scottish artists called the "Glasgow Boys", a team of successful painters who studied at the Glasgow School of Art in the late 19th Century.