Two original watercolour illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the work of artistic prodigies Edward Detmold and Charles Maurice Detmold, long thought lost, have been rediscovered and are heading to auction next month.
Both of the rare artworks will be offered in Roseberys’ Old Master, British & European Pictures auction on Tuesday 10th March 2026, with estimates of £15,000 – 20,000 each, which also includes etchings by James Gillray, and a stunning portrait of actress Mrs Philip Astley, née Madeleine Carroll, by Philip de László.
The drawings, which depict scenes from The Jungle Book, had been hanging unrecognised on the walls of a London family home for decades. Extraordinarily rare, they increase the number of known surviving originals from a set of 16 to just six.
The revelation has astounded the owners of the two watercolours: “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.”
Journalist, novelist, poet and short-story writer Rudyard Kipling, who wrote The Jungle Book, was the first English language author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded in 1907 when he was 41, a record that still stands.
The two newly rediscovered works were produced by the twin artistic prodigies Edward Detmold (1883-1957) and Charles Maurice Detmold (1883-1908), known as Maurice, and were published when they were just 20. It proved to be their final joint venture, as Maurice tragically took his own life aged 25.
His suicide note read: “This is not the end of a life. I have expressed through my physical means all that they are capable of expressing, and I am about to lay them aside.” The verdict of the inquest jury into his death was “suicide whilst of an unsound mind.”
An article for West Hampstead Life by by Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms notes that as child prodigies, at the age of 13, Edward and Maurice Detmold were the youngest people to exhibit watercolours at the Royal Academy. These were displayed “on the line,” in other words at eye level, a great accolade.
Their highly original work was influenced by Japanese prints, particularly those by Hiroshige and Hokusai, and is much prized today.
They also sent drawings to the Institute of Painters in Water Colours, where the doorman, seeing two children, refused them entry. He asked; “Whose pictures do you want to see – your father’s?’” They replied, “No, our own.” He fetched the secretary, who let them in.
The first of the two Jungle Book watercolours depicts Mowgli and Bagheera and is by Edward Detmold, signed ‘EJD’. It shows the young protagonist alongside the black panther Bagheera, rendered with fine linear detail and controlled washes.
The second, “The Cold Lairs”, is by Maurice Detmold and signed “M DETMOLD”. It depicts the ruined city of the Bandar-log, the monkey people, combining intricate jungle foliage with animated animal forms that reflect the brothers’ close observation of the natural world.
The watercolours were created in 1902/3 for Sixteen Illustrations of Subjects from Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’, a deluxe portfolio commissioned by Macmillan & Co in 1903.
The precocious Detmolds won the commission aged just 18. Their interpretation helped shape the public image of Kipling’s characters and settings, until Disney’s 1967 animated film created a new visual tradition.
Reportedly limited to 500 copies, the 1903 portfolio was published separately from the book itself, which had first appeared in 1894. The original edition collected stories Kipling had published in magazines in 1893-4, and included illustrations by the author’s father, amongst other artists.
In 1908, the first standard printed edition of The Jungle Book incorporating the Detmold illustrations within the book format was published by Macmillan. This edition contained the 16 plates and a frontispiece illustrated by the Detmold twins.
Because the plates were often removed and framed individually, complete 1903 portfolios are now extremely rare. Among other institutions, a copy is held by the Library of Congress.
Rarer still are the original watercolours produced for the project. Before this discovery, only four were known to survive, now split between private collections, the Natural History Museum and the National Trust.
One of them, “The Return of the Buffalo Herd”, is on display at Bateman’s in East Sussex, Kipling’s former home, run by the National Trust.
Both works in the auction were exhibited in 1903 at The Dutch Gallery, London in “An Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings. Illustrations to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book), etc. By Maurice and Edward Detmold”.
“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, to be able to bid for two of the six known surviving original watercolours is a vanishingly rare opportunity,” says Lara L’vov-Basirov, Roseberys Associate Director and Head of the company’s Old Master, British & European Pictures Department.
“It is difficult to convey just how big their impact was when they were first published, with the portfolio making headline reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Manchester Guardian reviewer singling out both of the individual watercolours we have here for particular praise.”
Edward continued to work after his brother’s suicide, although bereft of his collaborator, exhibiting at various venues, including the Baillie Gallery and the Arlington Gallery, and illustrating a number of books, notably The Fables of Aesop (1909), Maurice Maeterlinck’s The Life of the Bee (1911) and, a decade later, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (1924).
Philip de László‘s “Ice Cold Blonde”
Roseberys’ March Old Master, British and European Pictures auction features over 480 hand-selected paintings, drawings and prints, and represents a particularly strong collection of works by artists across art historical movements, genres, and centuries.
Alongside the Detmold brothers Jungle Book original watercolour, another standout lot is Philip de László‘s dazzling three-quarter length portrait of Mrs Philip Astley, née Madeleine Carroll. The actress was best known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock‘s The 39 Steps, where she originated the “ice cold blonde” role in his films, and, at the peak of her success in 1938, was the world’s highest-paid actress.
Treasures from the 18th century include cartoons by James Gillray; a magnificent portrait by British painter and co-founder of London’s Royal Academy Francis Cotes, which hasn’t appeared publicly since it was exhibited in 1971; an exceptional floral still life by the Dutch master Paul Theodor van Brussel; and an extremely fine equine portrait by the English equestrian painter John Boultbee.
The auction also features an impressive offering of earlier works including important oils by Samuel van Hoogstraten, the Studio of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Pieter de Bloot, a new discovery in the oeuvre of Girolamo da Treviso, as well as copies of oils by Raphael and Titian, of outstanding quality.
Operating in London for more than 30 years, Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers, located in the heart of South London.
• Roseberys’ Old Master, British & European Pictures auction, Tuesday 10th March 2026, Roseberys, 70/76 Knights Hill London SE27 0JD | You need to register to bid
Head downthetubes for…
• Bateman’s in East Sussex, Kipling’s former home, run but the National Trust
• West Hampstead Life: The Detmold twins: Artistic genius and depression
• Chris Beetles Gallery: Edward Julius Detmold ARE (1883-1957)
• Fantastic Creatures of Edward Julius Detmold (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
With thanks to Tim Robins
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Auctions, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds
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