Image: Brandler Galleries, Brentwood
Brandler Galleries has reported the discovery of a rare pair of paintings by Sir Sidney Nolan depicting Australian football players. The works were found in their original frames, which the gallery described as “tatty,” according to the gallery’s September 2026 newsletter.
The paintings are said to have been offered for sale by Christie’s in 2011. The newsletter also states that they were authenticated by Nolan’s wife, although it does not identify her or provide supporting documentation, catalogue details or an account of the authentication process.
Brandler Galleries describes the subjects as Australian footballers and suggests that they were probably depicted at Nolan’s local St Kilda football grounds. The wording leaves the location and context provisional: the source does not give a confirmed title, date, medium, dimensions, provenance beyond the 2011 Christie’s reference, or details of the works’ ownership history.
The discovery was included in a wider account of new material found by the Brentwood, Essex, gallery while searching for works to offer through its business. Other items mentioned in the same newsletter include a small Patrick Heron painting, a line drawing attributed to Henri Matisse and two drawings by Paul César Helleu. Those works are separate from the Nolan discovery.
Nolan, identified in the gallery’s announcement as an Australian artist, is represented in Brandler Galleries’ online artist index. The gallery’s website lists its address as 1 Coptfold Road, Brentwood, Essex, and presents the business as dealing in a range of art including street, urban and decorative works. The website does not provide a dedicated exhibition page or catalogue entry for the Nolan paintings in the supplied material.
No exhibition, public display, sale date or price has been announced for the pair. The available announcement establishes only that Brandler Galleries says it discovered the paintings in their original frames and that the works had previously been offered through Christie’s in 2011, with authentication attributed by the gallery to Nolan’s wife.
