1. Portrait of the Blenheim Tiger
Estimate £10,000–£15,000 Sold £50,115
Three versions of were painted by George Stubbs during the 1760s and ’70s. The subject is a magnificent female Bengal tiger or ‘tyger’, the spelling Stubbs used in 1769 when exhibiting one of the paintings. In 1763 the animal was given to George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, for his menagerie at Blenheim Palace by Lord Clive, Governor of Bengal, also known as Clive of India. Exotic menageries were popular among the aristocracy during this period, and the
