John Miles paintings sell at auction - 26/03/2010

A couple of John Miles pictures discovered at a valuation day in Wales have sold at auction for nearly £10,000.

The two oil paintings of prizewinning cattle from the Victorian era were discovered during a valuation day in Wales and subsequently sold to a London-based dealer, according to the BBC.

The images, which are of Hereford cattle are slightly oversized, as was typical of Miles' paintings – he exaggerated animals' sizes to flatter the owners for whom he was creating the piece.

William Lacey, of auction house Halls, revealed that despite being snapped by an art dealer, the pieces had been hidden away for years by their old owners.

He told the news provider: "These primitive or naïve style paintings, which are typical of the time, are now very popular with buyers. The pair in our sale was in untouched condition and had never been on the market before.

"They had been in the owner's family for many years and, in recent years, had been kept behind a wardrobe in a bedroom."