A lost work by celebrated painter Sir Edwin Landseer has been rediscovered in a private English collection, and will be offered in Bonhams’ Scottish Sale in Edinburgh on August 21st.

‘Dunrobin Castle’, the most northerly major house in the British Isles, is the seat of the Dukes of Sutherland and one of the most powerful families in the country. A castle has stood on the site near Golspie since 1235.

Landseer was one of the most important landscape and animal painters of the 19th C, and with Sir Walter Scott helped create the romanticised image of Scotland which captivated the world.

Landseer’s view of the castle and coastline relates to his group portrait in Dunrobin, and just predates Sir Charles Barry’s 1845 remodelling of the castle in the Scots Baronial style redolent of Balmoral. Queen Victoria had made Scotland fashionable, and the expansion of the rail network made it accessible to the middle classes. Barry, who had designed the Houses of Parliament, then laid out gardens inspired by Versailles.

Chris Brickley says:

“Landseer is an exceptional painter, and to rediscover a picture which has been untraced since it was exhibited at the Tate and in Philadelphia nearly 30 years ago is very exciting. It will attract a good deal of interest and should sell for up to £60,000.”

The auction will also include good pictures by artists as diverse as William McTaggart, EA Hornel, Maclauchlan Milne and Anne Redpath.