George Stubbs picture fetches £10m at Sotheby's auction

Brood Mares and Foals had been privately kept since the 18th Century

A painting by British master George Stubbs has sold for a record £10m at auction at Sotheby's in London.

Brood Mares and Foals was painted in 1767 at the height of the renowned horse painter's career.

An undisclosed buyer made a successful bid totalling £10,121,250 for the 100cm by 187cm oil on canvas which was offered for sale for the first time.

Sotheby's, which had expected a sale in the range of £10m-£15m, said it was a record price for a work by Stubbs.

The painting was privately kept by the descendants of its original owner Colonel George Lane Parker, son of the second Earl of Macclesfield, for 237 years.

It was exhibited at the National Gallery in London in 2005 having only been shown twice before, both times in 1768.

Emmeline Hallmark, director of British Pictures at Sotheby's, said Stubbs - who published a book titled The Anatomy Of The Horse in 1766 - was "the greatest horse painter of his time".