George Stubbs spaniel is ‘best in show’

The art equivalent of a Crufts’ ‘Best in Show Champion’, an oil portrait of a King Charles Spaniel by George Stubbs (1724-1806), is expected to sell for up to £80,000 at Sloane Street Auctions in London on November 29.

The undated gilt-framed painting (measuring 23¾ x 28in without the frame) features in the book Stubbs’ Dogs, by R. Fountain and A. Graves, London 1984, and is a fine example of the genre. The artist is considered one of the most original and innovative English painters of dogs and horses ever. 

Signed lower right, and with labels verso, the picture has a distinguished ownership history, having been sold by the prominent London dealers Arthur Ackermann & Sons, before passing through the hands of collectors who include Lord Rootes, R.A. McAlpine and Lewis Schott. It is consigned here from a private collection. 

Also featuring in the sale is a unique artwork by another leading equine painter, Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959), which he originally sold to Lord Astor. 

The portrait of a chestnut being ridden on the Newmarket gallops with a sketch lower right of the same horse is annotated and signed to the surface of the work by the artist himself. Munnings wrote Painted in Fred Butter’s Yard and Newmarket Studies 1947 on the 12¾ x 17½in framed oil on panel. 

A bonus for any buyer is the study in graphite to the back, inscribed Study of chestnut horse and lad in Newmarket stables. 

Other highlights in the sale include Factory in snow, a 14 x 10in signed and dated 1950 oil on canvas by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) with a Royal Academy label verso, which is estimated at £180,000-250,000, a 19 x 15in signed and dated 1909 Portrait of a Lady in oil by one of the Scottish Colourists, John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961), which is expected to sell for £10,000-20,000. 

The sale also features a consignment of just over a dozen lots that once belonged to Margaret Thatcher, including the desk on she planned her 1979 General Election victory is up for sale at Sloane Street Auctions in London on November 29.

“This is exactly the range and quality of items that used to be offered by Christie’s South Kensington before it closed, and we are happy to don that mantle,” said Sloane Street Auctions’ owner Daniel Hunt. “Indeed, not only have several of our clients already pointed that out, but we are also delighted to work with Hugh Edmeades, Christie’s South Kensington’s former chairman, as our auctioneer on the rostrum.”