The Jungle Book: Rare painting goes on display at Kipling's home

A rare painting from The Jungle Book has gone on display at the family home of its author, Rudyard Kipling.

The watercolour, The Return of the Buffalo Herd, dated 1901, has been acquired by the National Trust and hung at Bateman's, in Burwash, East Sussex.

The Edward Detmold painting has not been displayed for 120 years.

A National Trust spokesperson said: "The dark sentiment of the illustration lends a surprising contrast to lighter, modern interpretations of the story".

The buffalo watercolour is one of just four book illustrations known to have survived from an original set of 16 painted by the Detmold brothers.

It depicts a post-climactic scene, where protagonist Mowgli returns a herd of buffalo back to the village after using them to trigger a stampede that crushes his foe, the murderous tiger - Shere Khan.

Kipling wrote of this moment: "The torrent of black horns, foaming muzzles, and staring eyes whirled down the ravine like boulders in flood time…The terrible charge of the buffalo-herd, against which no tiger can hope to stand."

The painting is going on display at Bateman's exactly 130 years after The Jungle Book was written.

Hannah Miles, collections manager at Bateman's, said: "It will provide a rare chance for fans of the much-loved book to discover and experience the story's darker origins as it was in Kipling's day."

"It feels poignant to display the magnificent illustration alongside a copy of the book featuring all of the Detmold twins' original pictures, in the place that meant so much to the story's author."

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