Painting Said to Have Inspired Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' Cover Sells at Auction

Via The Times:

A John Bellany painting of the Beatles which is said to have inspired Peter Blake’s Sgt Pepper album cover fetched £45,360 at auction.

The Scottish painter’s Homage to Douanier Rousseau replaced the titular artillerymen of the 1893 French original with the band, the artist himself and friends.

There is a possibility that the Pop artist Blake, who was one of Bellany’s mentors at the Royal College of Art in London, had been aware of the 1964 artwork before designing the cover of the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Bellany, who was born in Port Seton, East Lothian, drew inspiration from Rousseau when he travelled to Paris in 1963 on a scholarship with Sandy Moffat and Alan Bold.