An American billionaire who was once the US's richest man is to auction a painting by a 19th century Birmingham artist who counts the Queen among his fans.
The painting is one of 12 up for auction from the collection of thrice-divorced media magnate John Kluge which are expected to reach over £500,000.
The Birmingham brushed oil painting, Ready for Sportby George William Horlor, was created at the artist's home and workshop in New Street in 1861.
Almost 150 years later the painting will be auctioned at Christie's in New York's glamorous Rockefeller Plaza where it is expected to fetch £35,000.
Mr Kluge, who once entertained Prince Charles and Princess Diana on his luxury cruise yacht, is now valued at $9 billion - ranking him America's 23rd richest man, according to Forbes Magazine's Four Hundred rich list
Horlor produced many successful paintings from his New Street workshop, which have been praised by BBC's Antiques Roadshow expert Christopher Wood in his Dictionary of Victorian Painters, for their 'bright, cheerful style'. In the same year, Horlor painted Ready for Sport.
Three other pictures that he created in Birmingham - Repose, Sheep and Lambs and The Drove - were exhibited in the Royal Society of British Artists. These were auctioned for the then princely sums of £68 five shillings, £84 and £157 and ten shillings respectively.
