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Two original illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book that were lost for over a century have been discovered.
The watercolors had been hanging unrecognized on the walls of a London family home for decades.
The rediscovery increases the number of known surviving originals to just six out of an original set of 16.
The four other surviving illustrations are now split between private collections, the Natural History Museum, and the National Trust.
The first watercolor by Edward Detmold depicts Mowgli with Bagheera, the black panther. The second was painted by Edward’s twin, Charles Maurice Detmold, depicting Cold Lairs, the home of the ‘Monkey People’ or Bandar-log.
London auctioneers Roseberys will offer both works for sale on March 10, believing they will fetch $20,000 each.
The revelation has astounded the owners of the two paintings, who are remaining anonymous.
“These drawings were never treated as ‘important’ works in our family – they were simply part of our home,” they explained.
“Finding out that they restore a missing piece of the visual history of Kipling’s The Jungle Book has been completely unexpected.”
The watercolors were created in 1903 for the deluxe portfolio, Sixteen Illustrations of Subjects from Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’, which was commissioned by book publisher Macmillan & Co in 1902.
Reportedly limited to 500 copies, the portfolio was published separately from the book itself, which had been published nine years earlier in 1894.
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The original Jungle Book collected stories that Kipling had previously published in magazines, and it included illustrations from the author’s father, among other artists.
Later, the first standard printed edition of The Jungle Book incorporating the Detmold illustrations was first published by Macmillan in 1908. It contained the 16 plates, as well as a frontispiece illustrated by the Detmold twins.
But, the 1903 portfolios are now extremely rare because their 16 large plates were often removed for framing individually. One complete copy is held by the U.S. Library of Congress.
“To be able to bid for two of the six known surviving original watercolors is a vanishingly rare opportunity,” said Lara L’vov-Basirov, of the Roseberys auction house.”
“Especially, if you consider how rare the printed versions of these illustrations are because they were treated as works of art and framed, breaking up the portfolios in the process.”
“It is difficult to convey just how big their impact was when the portfolio was first published, making headline reviews on both sides of the Atlantic—and the Guardian reviewer singling out both of the individual watercolors we have here for particular praise.”
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The Detmold watercolors, appearing on the market for the first time, were published when the twin artistic prodigies were just 20—and it proved to be their final joint venture, as Charles Maurice tragically took his own life at age 25.
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