10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
11
THOMAS WALKER BRETLAND (BRITISH 1802-1874)
THOROUGHBRED DANIEL O'ROURKE, WINNER OF THE 1852 EPSOM DERBY
signed and dated T. Bretland / Nott 1852 lower left; inscribed with the initials JB lower right on the blanket
oil on canvas
63 x 76cm; 24 3/4 x 29 3/4in
76.5 x 89cm; 30 x 35in (framed)
Property of a Gentleman
Provenance
(probably) John Bowes, Paris and London
Richard Bateman
Sale, Rosebery's London, 6 December 2017, lot 534 (purchased by the present owner)
Bretland painted the present portrait of Daniel O’Rourke, known as ‘the little horse’, to celebrate the thoroughbred's Derby win of 1852. The initials JB on the horse's blanket refer to John Bowes (1811-1885), one of the most succesful racehorse owners of his generation. Foaled in 1849, Daniel O'Rourke also won the St James’ Palace Stakes at Ascot, and came 3rd in the St Leger. Bowes later sold the horse to Sir Tatton Sykes for stud after which it was purchased by the Austrian Government for 800 guineas and shipped to Vienna.
Bowes was the son of the 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and a distant ancestor to the late Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. In 1852 he married the actress and society hostess Joséphine Coffin Chevallier (1824-1874). A gifted painter who had studied with the Austrian painter Karl Josef Kuwasseg (1802-1877), and showed at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy in London, Joséphine took a keen interest in the arts, commissioning authors and playwrights and amassing a formidable collection.
On their return to England the couple built the Bowes Museum to house their burgeoning collection of some 15,000 art works on land near John Bowes' ancestral home close to Barnard Castle. Conceived in a grand French chateau style by French architect Jules Pellechet, sadly neither Joesphine nor John lived to see it open to the public in 1892.
Thomas Walker Bretland was born in Nottingham, the eldest son of Peter Bretland, the owner of a coach and carriage painting business. By 1840, after his father's death, Thomas left the family business and took up the full time occupation of animal painting. He was much encouraged by Lord Middleton one of his first important patrons. Other patrons included the Dukes of Buccleuch and Montrose, Lord Chesterfield and Baron Rothschild. He worked mainly in oils and his subject matter covered animal portraits generally as well as hunting scenes and landscapes.
Sold for £1,300
THOROUGHBRED DANIEL O'ROURKE, WINNER OF THE 1852 EPSOM DERBY
signed and dated T. Bretland / Nott 1852 lower left; inscribed with the initials JB lower right on the blanket
oil on canvas
63 x 76cm; 24 3/4 x 29 3/4in
76.5 x 89cm; 30 x 35in (framed)
Property of a Gentleman
Provenance
(probably) John Bowes, Paris and London
Richard Bateman
Sale, Rosebery's London, 6 December 2017, lot 534 (purchased by the present owner)
Bretland painted the present portrait of Daniel O’Rourke, known as ‘the little horse’, to celebrate the thoroughbred's Derby win of 1852. The initials JB on the horse's blanket refer to John Bowes (1811-1885), one of the most succesful racehorse owners of his generation. Foaled in 1849, Daniel O'Rourke also won the St James’ Palace Stakes at Ascot, and came 3rd in the St Leger. Bowes later sold the horse to Sir Tatton Sykes for stud after which it was purchased by the Austrian Government for 800 guineas and shipped to Vienna.
Bowes was the son of the 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and a distant ancestor to the late Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. In 1852 he married the actress and society hostess Joséphine Coffin Chevallier (1824-1874). A gifted painter who had studied with the Austrian painter Karl Josef Kuwasseg (1802-1877), and showed at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy in London, Joséphine took a keen interest in the arts, commissioning authors and playwrights and amassing a formidable collection.
On their return to England the couple built the Bowes Museum to house their burgeoning collection of some 15,000 art works on land near John Bowes' ancestral home close to Barnard Castle. Conceived in a grand French chateau style by French architect Jules Pellechet, sadly neither Joesphine nor John lived to see it open to the public in 1892.
Thomas Walker Bretland was born in Nottingham, the eldest son of Peter Bretland, the owner of a coach and carriage painting business. By 1840, after his father's death, Thomas left the family business and took up the full time occupation of animal painting. He was much encouraged by Lord Middleton one of his first important patrons. Other patrons included the Dukes of Buccleuch and Montrose, Lord Chesterfield and Baron Rothschild. He worked mainly in oils and his subject matter covered animal portraits generally as well as hunting scenes and landscapes.
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
