diff --git a/interface/wx/listctrl.h b/interface/wx/listctrl.h
index 6b9edb72d5..8ccaad95b1 100644
--- a/interface/wx/listctrl.h
+++ b/interface/wx/listctrl.h
@@ -756,6 +756,11 @@ public:
         @a code can be one of @c wxLIST_RECT_BOUNDS, @c wxLIST_RECT_ICON or
         @c wxLIST_RECT_LABEL.
 
+        Note that using @c wxLIST_RECT_ICON with any sub-item but the first one
+        isn't very useful as only the first sub-item can have an icon in
+        wxListCtrl. In this case, i.e. for @c subItem > 0, this function simply
+        returns an empty rectangle in @a rect.
+
         @since 2.7.0
     */
     bool GetSubItemRect(long item, long subItem, wxRect& rect,
diff --git a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
index 7e2512a7ad..d1508e1f39 100644
--- a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
@@ -1230,6 +1230,16 @@ bool wxListCtrl::GetSubItemRect(long item, long subItem, wxRect& rect, int code)
             break;
 
         case wxLIST_RECT_ICON:
+            // Only the first subitem can have an icon, so it doesn't make
+            // sense to query the native control for the other ones --
+            // especially because it returns a nonsensical non-empty icon
+            // rectangle for them.
+            if ( subItem > 0 )
+            {
+                rect = wxRect();
+                return true;
+            }
+
             codeWin = LVIR_ICON;
             break;