diff --git a/interface/wx/listctrl.h b/interface/wx/listctrl.h
index f8d45031a2..adb528f533 100644
--- a/interface/wx/listctrl.h
+++ b/interface/wx/listctrl.h
@@ -1110,6 +1110,11 @@ public:
         This method does not take ownership of the image list, you have to
         delete it yourself.
 
+        Note that, unlike for most of the other methods of this class, it is
+        possible to call this function before the corresponding window is
+        created, i.e. do it in a constructor of a class derived from wxListCtrl
+        before calling Create().
+
         @see AssignImageList()
     */
     void SetImageList(wxImageList* imageList, int which);
diff --git a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
index 6b4be8208b..922a9809d8 100644
--- a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
@@ -320,6 +320,15 @@ bool wxListCtrl::Create(wxWindow *parent,
     if ( HasFlag(wxLC_LIST) )
         m_colCount = 1;
 
+    // If SetImageList() had been called before the control was created, take
+    // it into account now.
+    if ( m_imageListNormal )
+        ListView_SetImageList(GetHwnd(), GetHimagelistOf(m_imageListNormal), LVSIL_NORMAL);
+    if ( m_imageListSmall )
+        ListView_SetImageList(GetHwnd(), GetHimagelistOf(m_imageListSmall), LVSIL_SMALL);
+    if ( m_imageListState )
+        ListView_SetImageList(GetHwnd(), GetHimagelistOf(m_imageListState), LVSIL_STATE);
+
     return true;
 }
 
@@ -1551,6 +1560,13 @@ void wxListCtrl::SetImageList(wxImageList *imageList, int which)
         m_imageListState = imageList;
         m_ownsImageListState = false;
     }
+
+    // It's possible that this function is called before the control is
+    // created, don't do anything else in this case -- the image list will be
+    // really set after creating it.
+    if ( !GetHwnd() )
+        return;
+
     (void) ListView_SetImageList(GetHwnd(), (HIMAGELIST) imageList ? imageList->GetHIMAGELIST() : 0, flags);
 
     // For ComCtl32 prior 6.0 we need to re-assign all existing