More Buttons. Note 25.
Having not written for some time (years!), I recently looked through past blog Comments to see if there were any new to me. In Note 17 (1 March 2009) I wrote about a set of racing buttons that had come up for sale at Bonhams. There were seven George III Irish silver circular buttons, each with an engraving of a racehorse with its name. The buttons were made in Dublin by (IW?) in 1787. I then described the various series of contemporary engraving of racehorses after the artists Joseph Sympson, Tillemans, Wootton, the Sartoriuses, Spencer and Seymour and others, published between the 1730s and about 1800. Such engravings, sometimes with a panoramic background of Newmarket, Ascot or Epsom, were often used in creating the decoration of racing trophies, engraved or repoussee. The horses on these buttons were Black Prince, O Burn, Peeping Tom, Snip. Tinker, Bum Brusher and Bishop. From the Irish listings in the Racing Calendars of the period, I identified all of them apart from Black Prince and O Burn. The other horses belonged to a Mr R.B. Daly, a Mr Kirwan or a Mr Savage.
I am greatly indebted to Thomas Sinsteden, the author of a Comment posted in September 2012, that I had overlooked. He wrote:
'10 more buttons by the same maker, John Nicklin (predominantly a buckle maker) and the same year 1787 are held by the Metropolitan Museum in NY. The names of the horses, all with different poses were engraved by the same hand as the Bonhams buttons are. [The horses names are] Creeping Kate, Fanny, Louisa, Jenny Driver, Eve, Hyder Alley [Hyder Ally in the Calendar], Elumpy [Flumpy?], Trifler [Trifle], Merry Andrew and Jane Harold. A pair of paintings of Creeping Kate and Peeping Tom were sold at Bonhams Edinburgh, 1 Nov 2010 lot 278.'
Mr Daly owned Fanny, Jenny Driver and Louisa; Mr Kirwan: Eve and HyderAlly; a Mr Hamilton: Trifle and Merry Andrew; and a Mr Eyre: Jane Harold. All these gentlemen owned other horses and were obviously successful racing men in Ireland at the time. I could not find the owner for Creeping Kate or Flumpy, and I have been unable to find any engravings that might have been the source for the design of these buttons.
At the end of Note 17, I asked two questions: what engravings were copied (if any) and who commissioned these buttons (and why)? Good hunting!
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Monday, 21 December 2009
Autumn 2009. Note 24.
It is four months since Note 23. Perhaps the main reason for this is my idleness, but I also tell myself that very little of interest has occurred in the 'sporting art world' this autumn.
As I mentioned in Note 21, there was an exhibition of the work of the young artist Daniel Crane in June at James Harvey British Art, Langton Street, SW10. Crane has improved immensely during the past two years although he has yet to show a consistent identity in his paintings of hunting and racing. They are fresh, colourful, but still have some way to go to avoid the cachet of being just pretty pictures. I mention this exhibition now since Crane's name crops up again in an autumn show.
Susie Whitcombe, whose work is seen on far too few occasions, held an exhibition of her paintings, watercolours and bronzes at The Gallery in Cork Street (London) for a week in October. Her paintings of racehorses are familiar to many, but here the subjects were enormously varied with some drawn from visits to India. Among the landsacpes was The Attipula Bridge, Ladi Gardens, Delhi. This delightful view of a river bank and stone bridge with trees overhanging the water could just as well have been of the Thames at Marlow or somewhere on the river's middle reaches - a beautiful, tranquil and skilfully painted impression. There were other scenes from India and of that country's cattle. British bulls were in the exhibition as well as some wonderfully free and tactile, rough-dabbed bronzes. A very fine portrait of a skewbald pony was painted at, and titled Devon Art Workshop. This valuable annual workshop is arranged by the Society of Equestrian Artists to encourage painters to enter this field of painting with the volunteer tuition of established artists, among them Tom Coates, Malcolm Coward, Gill Parker, Barry Peckham and Susie Whitcombe. The BSAT provides an attendance scholarship for one student to go to Devon each year.
The Tryon Gallery trading in one place or another in London for the past 50 years, celebrated their Silver Jubilee at their present home in Bury Street, SW1 during two weeks in November. The Tryon has been the premier venue for exhibiting sporting and wildlife art for some time. In this exhibition, sporting art was represented by Susan Crawford, Charles Church, Emma Faul and Philip Blacker, among others. Wildlife art was the domain of some past masters including J.C. Harrison (1898-1985) and Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979). This was a lovely exhibition richly illustrating 50 years of high endeavour by both artists and the Gallery.
At the same time, the newly-named Arthur Ackermann Ltd. (with predecessors, in name only, since 1783) held an exhibition of Sporting and Landscape Pictures at James Purdey & Sons, South Audley Street, W1. This firm was called previously Ackermann & Johnson, and before that was the renowned Arthur Ackermann & Sons Ltd. of Bond Street, London. That is until their backers disgracefully pulled the rug from under their feet on the eve of their 1991 Annual Sporting Exhibition. At the time I wrote: "Such attention [to visitors] and readily shared scholarship, so much a part the ethos of Ackermann's, is unlikely to to be found elsewhere or again". Twenty years on, this remains true. The exhibition at Purdey's comprised an appropriately scatter-gun selection of a few (perhaps immovable) stock pictures (but there was nice Thomas Blinks Full Cry), and better contemporary paintings (Daniel Crane) and desirable bronzes.
Richard Green's Winter Exhibition opened on 5 November and included a small selection of Sporting and Dog Paintings. For atmosphere and fun a set of hunting scenes by Henry Alken Snr. take some beating. Familiar as these sets of pictures are with their Taking a Fence, Taking a Ditch, View Halloo and The Kill they set a pace that cannot quite be equalled by the efforts of the admirable G.H. Laporte (1802-1873) of John Dalby of York (1806-1858) whose similar hunting works are in the exhibition. A pair of coaching scenes by Charles Cooper Henderson (1803-1877) also display an unbeatable veracity in their subjects that others (save James Pollard) failed to achieve. Susan Bennett's dissertation on CCH's mother, Georgiana Jane Henderson (nee Keate) was published in 2008. This provides a fascinating insight into the early life of her son and the position of a lady amateur artist in society at the time. Apert from a Portrait of Joe, a favourite setter by Edmund Bristow and a lively terrier's head by John Emms, the dog section is disappointing.
Finally, or almost so, James Harvey opened an exhibition of Young & Old Masters of the Sporting Field at Langton Street on 9 December. Again some familiar paintings (but more of a 'collection' than with Ackermann) to which are added robust bronzes and fine drawings by Hamish Mackie and Flora Beckett respectively. The London Book Launch of Robert Fountain's and Neil Kennedy's biography of the sporting artist Lynwood Palmer (1868-1941) took place at the Harvey opening. I have reviewed the book in the Winter 2009 number of Country Illustrated. In a nutshell, Palmer divided his time between painting, being an outstanding horseman and, a near obsession, a coaching whip. As an artist he was self-taught which, in a self-imposed fashion, kept him apart from his contemporaries - he did not exhibit. However, he was a very successful portrait painter of hunters and racehorses, in part due to his flexibility in pleasing his patrons among whom Lord Derby was most prominent. It would be natural to describe him as a poor-man's Munnings, but in fact, in his prime, he was very well paid for the enormous number of commissions he undertook. He just lacked Munnings's 'sparkle'. Other attempts to write about this enigmatic artist have largely failed, but this lavishly illustrated book, published by Sally Mitchell Collectables Ltd., thoroughly succeeds.
I hope that more interesting subjects will arise in 2010. In the meantime: a Happy Christmas and New Year.
Monday, 31 August 2009
"A Passion for Movement". Note 23.
"A Passion for Movement" is the title of a revealing exhibition of paintings, pastels, watercolours and graphics by Lowes Dalbiac Luard at present at the British Sporting Art Trust's Vestey Gallery, Newmarket. It remains open until 1 November 2009. Nearly seventy of Luard's pictures have been brought together for this exhibition curated by the artist's grandson, Lord Lyell. This is a remarkable assembly since the majority of the works have not been seen previously being drawn from private collections.
Luard's forbears, like many distinguished soldiers of their time, had considerable amateur artistic talent. This comes to full fruition during the life and in the work of Lowes Luard. He was born in India in 1872. Educated in England, Lowes veered away from studying mathematics at Balliol at the last moment and subsquently trained at the Slade School of Art from 1893 to 1897. Here his tutors were Fred Brown and Henry Tonks; Augustus John and Ambrose McEvoy were among his companions. Initially, he earned a living painting portraits and as an illustrator. Soon after his marriage, Luard went to Paris for a six-month period of study under Lucien Simon and Emile-Rene Menard. Excepting the interruption of the First World War and some summer visits to England, he and his growing family spent the next 25 years in France.
The expansion of Paris before the First War included building and industrial construction in which horses still played an important part. Luard was fascinated by the working teams of Percheron carthorses that were used in stone and timber hauling often on the banks of the River Seine. The strength, intelligence and muscled movement of these large animals provided the artist with many subjects for numerous drawings, watercolours and oils, including the large (30 x 72 inches) and extraordinarily vigorous painting of Timberhauling on the Seine, 1914 that is in the exhibtion. These horses are again the the subject of a more relaxed scene of Percherons at Water, 1911 (24 x 36 inches) beneath a wooden bridge with their 'carter'.
Aged 42, Luard joind the army as a second lieutenant in the Army Service Corps in August 1914. He was in France from that time until 1918, being awarded the DSO, Croix de Guerre avec Palmes, and he was mentiuoned in despatches on five occasions, repeating the bravery often shown by earlier generations of his family in India and the Crimea. During this time he managed to make a number of studies of horses at war, usually with the guns or hauling munitions in the appalling conditions of wet and mud that prevailed. There are some of these charcoal studies in the exhibition.
Returning to Paris with his family after the war, he continued to paint working horses and in 1921 his classic book Horses and Movement was published by Cassell & Co. His summers were spent in England where his interests broadened into land- and sky-scapes, as well as exploring what was to become a second fascination: the movement of the racehorse.
The family came back to Engalnd in 1934, settling in St John's Wood. At the time St John's Wood was the home of many artists. Luard was surrounded quickly by neighbours and friends with the same outlook and interests, some of whom he had known in Paris. Undoubtedly he gained fresh strength and inspiration by being in this milieu. It was now that he regularly visited Newmarket and, not unnaturally, many of the pictures in this marvellous exhibition are of racehorses training on the gallops or streaming across panoramas in a smooth flow of vibrant, exciting colour. The rugged, patient workhorses of Paris have given way to the excitable and, in some pictures, almost feline-like racehorses. Like other artists of his generation, Luard was also attractd to the circus. The bright lights and colours, the perfoming animals and the clowns furnishing him with subjects to draw and paint. Above all, his drawings of trapeze artists and acrobats are outstanding in their capture of human movement in a few deft strokes of brush or pastel. Lowes Luard died in 1944.
In the admirable catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, mention is made of Luard's relationships with many of his mentors and contemporaries in the artistic world. Two gaps among them occur to me. It is difficult not to presume that Gericault was not an influence in his early study of horses such was their joint exploration of equine vigour; and also that Luard must have been particularly aware of the work of his close contemporary and Francophile, Robert Bevan (1865-1925). The latter's interpretation of the structure of a hores's movement was in many ways similar to that of Luard, mostly in their graphic illustrations. I wonder if anyone would agree?
This is a beautifully presented exhibition of the work of an artist with a much broader perspective of life and art, not least of horses' movement, than is usually found among 'sporting painters'. Lord Lyell must be congratulated on gathering together such a wide-ranging selection of his grandfather's otherwise little known work accompanied, as I have said, by a most informative illustrated catalogue that can be obtained from th BSAT.
Luard's forbears, like many distinguished soldiers of their time, had considerable amateur artistic talent. This comes to full fruition during the life and in the work of Lowes Luard. He was born in India in 1872. Educated in England, Lowes veered away from studying mathematics at Balliol at the last moment and subsquently trained at the Slade School of Art from 1893 to 1897. Here his tutors were Fred Brown and Henry Tonks; Augustus John and Ambrose McEvoy were among his companions. Initially, he earned a living painting portraits and as an illustrator. Soon after his marriage, Luard went to Paris for a six-month period of study under Lucien Simon and Emile-Rene Menard. Excepting the interruption of the First World War and some summer visits to England, he and his growing family spent the next 25 years in France.
The expansion of Paris before the First War included building and industrial construction in which horses still played an important part. Luard was fascinated by the working teams of Percheron carthorses that were used in stone and timber hauling often on the banks of the River Seine. The strength, intelligence and muscled movement of these large animals provided the artist with many subjects for numerous drawings, watercolours and oils, including the large (30 x 72 inches) and extraordinarily vigorous painting of Timberhauling on the Seine, 1914 that is in the exhibtion. These horses are again the the subject of a more relaxed scene of Percherons at Water, 1911 (24 x 36 inches) beneath a wooden bridge with their 'carter'.
Aged 42, Luard joind the army as a second lieutenant in the Army Service Corps in August 1914. He was in France from that time until 1918, being awarded the DSO, Croix de Guerre avec Palmes, and he was mentiuoned in despatches on five occasions, repeating the bravery often shown by earlier generations of his family in India and the Crimea. During this time he managed to make a number of studies of horses at war, usually with the guns or hauling munitions in the appalling conditions of wet and mud that prevailed. There are some of these charcoal studies in the exhibition.
Returning to Paris with his family after the war, he continued to paint working horses and in 1921 his classic book Horses and Movement was published by Cassell & Co. His summers were spent in England where his interests broadened into land- and sky-scapes, as well as exploring what was to become a second fascination: the movement of the racehorse.
The family came back to Engalnd in 1934, settling in St John's Wood. At the time St John's Wood was the home of many artists. Luard was surrounded quickly by neighbours and friends with the same outlook and interests, some of whom he had known in Paris. Undoubtedly he gained fresh strength and inspiration by being in this milieu. It was now that he regularly visited Newmarket and, not unnaturally, many of the pictures in this marvellous exhibition are of racehorses training on the gallops or streaming across panoramas in a smooth flow of vibrant, exciting colour. The rugged, patient workhorses of Paris have given way to the excitable and, in some pictures, almost feline-like racehorses. Like other artists of his generation, Luard was also attractd to the circus. The bright lights and colours, the perfoming animals and the clowns furnishing him with subjects to draw and paint. Above all, his drawings of trapeze artists and acrobats are outstanding in their capture of human movement in a few deft strokes of brush or pastel. Lowes Luard died in 1944.
In the admirable catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, mention is made of Luard's relationships with many of his mentors and contemporaries in the artistic world. Two gaps among them occur to me. It is difficult not to presume that Gericault was not an influence in his early study of horses such was their joint exploration of equine vigour; and also that Luard must have been particularly aware of the work of his close contemporary and Francophile, Robert Bevan (1865-1925). The latter's interpretation of the structure of a hores's movement was in many ways similar to that of Luard, mostly in their graphic illustrations. I wonder if anyone would agree?
This is a beautifully presented exhibition of the work of an artist with a much broader perspective of life and art, not least of horses' movement, than is usually found among 'sporting painters'. Lord Lyell must be congratulated on gathering together such a wide-ranging selection of his grandfather's otherwise little known work accompanied, as I have said, by a most informative illustrated catalogue that can be obtained from th BSAT.
Monday, 15 June 2009
The Horner Statue. Note 22.
The other day I was lent the Memoirs of a Veterinary Surgeon by Reginald Hancock (1952). This slim volume has woodcut illustrations and vignettes by Elaine Hancock. Part of the book is an account of Hancock's work during the Great War of 1914-1919: accounts of the horrors that many horses endured and of the many thousands that perished. The faint-hearted should skip these chapters! However, the book also recalls the author's friendship, if that is the right word, with Lieutenant Edward Horner whose memorial equestrian statue by Alfred Munnings stands in St Andrew's Church, Mells, Somerset. Both Hancock's description of Horner and his thoughts on the figure subsequently portrayed prompted me to re-visit Mells two days ago. I had heared that the statue had very recently been moved from its cramped position in the Horner Chapel to the main part of the church where it now stands and can be admired properly.
Edward Horner was the eldest son of a family that had lived quietly at their Mells estate for many generations. Hancock describes Edward as having "one of the finest brains of any man I have ever known." He was brilliant at Oxford before entering the law chambers of Lord Birkenhead - who earlier had recognised Horner's promise. Since he was tall, fair-haired and handsome, the term 'gilded youth' comes to mind but, like so many of his time, Horner's life was to be cut short. He was severely wounded at the battle of Ypres. Once recovered, he was posted to a Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Tidworth Barracks, Hampshire, awaiting his return to the front. Horner had arrived at the barracks "complete with his own valet, groom and charger." After two years in France, Hancock too was posted to Tidworth. He was conscious of being from a very different mould to the Mells' heir with whom he was to share a room in the Officers Mess. It was unfortunate that as Hancock was unpacking his belongings the approaching Horner was heard protesting that he was now having to share his room with "some bloody awful vet."
While initially somewhat aloof, Horner apologised for his unforgivable outburst. One night, after a heated argument on the merits or otherwise of the composer Wagner (Horner, against; Hancock, for), a friendship was born as the cavalryman realised that there was a great deal more to the "bloody awful vet" than he had first assumed. When leaving Tidworth to join the Eighth (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars, Horner said goodbye to Hancock with the words: "You have been such a delightful companion." Edward Horner died of wounds sustained at Noyelles, Picardy on 21 November 1917, aged 28 years. He was the last male heir of the Horner family. A 16-year-old younger brother had died in 1908, and his sister, who eventually inherited the estate, had suffered the loss of her husband, Raymond Asquith, who was killed in France in 1916 while serving with the Grenadier Guards.
Turning now to the Munnings statue. This was commissioned by Lady Horner, Edward's mother, through the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens had close links with the Horners and Mells where he had designed the grand, outdoor memorial to those from the village who fell in the Great War, (he also designed the bus shelter!). The statue was the first work undertaken by Munnings after he purchased Castle House at Dedham, to where his sectional, mobile studio was moved from Swainsthorpe. I am not sure which usually comes first: a statue or its plinth? In this case Lutyens gave Munnings the dimensions of the plinth base: 5 feet by 3 feet, 6 inches, (it is approximately 5 feet high). In relation to this plinth, Munnings decided the horse carrying Horner should be seen as about the size of a deer. He had photographs from which to work, and he would also have known that Horner was very tall. Munnings was assisted by a sculptor friend named Waters, about whom I can find no further information. After making two small statuettes for Lady Horner's approval, Waters and the village blacksmith built the armature on which the former and Munnings applied the clay. Unusually, the plaster-cast was also made in the studio, and a full account of the work can be found in the second part of Munnings's autobiography, The Second Burst (1951).
For more than 85 years the statue stood in the Horner Chapel in Mells church. The plinth covered much of the accessible chapel floor, itself only 18 feet by 13 feet, including a 2-foot deep table monument running down the long side. This meant that it was virtually impossible to 'stand back' to admire the bronze, let alone take a good photograph if one wished to do so. Hancock remarks in his book that he "would like to see it [the statute and plinth] brought out some day into the body of the church where one can see it in a more spacious setting." Admiring the statue immensely and finding the horse and the youthful Horner's features beautifully portrayed, Hancock makes only one critical comment. This is that Munnings has failed to take account of the "extraordinary length of his (Horner's) limbs" which, even when riding a seventeen hands horse, reached "groundwards far further than those of any horseman I have ever seen."
After some resistance and argument, the statue has very recently been moved into the north side-aisle of the church, surrounded by other war memorials. Hancock, and I am sure Munnings, would be pleased that the figure can now be studied at full length and from all angles. It is signed: A.J. Munnings, Dedham, Essex, 1920. It is a remarkable bronze by an artist who rarely practised sculpture, (although the Horner statue led to a commission from the Jockey Club for Munnings to model the racehorse Brown Jack). Should you be in north Somerset, try to visit Mells.
Edward Horner was the eldest son of a family that had lived quietly at their Mells estate for many generations. Hancock describes Edward as having "one of the finest brains of any man I have ever known." He was brilliant at Oxford before entering the law chambers of Lord Birkenhead - who earlier had recognised Horner's promise. Since he was tall, fair-haired and handsome, the term 'gilded youth' comes to mind but, like so many of his time, Horner's life was to be cut short. He was severely wounded at the battle of Ypres. Once recovered, he was posted to a Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Tidworth Barracks, Hampshire, awaiting his return to the front. Horner had arrived at the barracks "complete with his own valet, groom and charger." After two years in France, Hancock too was posted to Tidworth. He was conscious of being from a very different mould to the Mells' heir with whom he was to share a room in the Officers Mess. It was unfortunate that as Hancock was unpacking his belongings the approaching Horner was heard protesting that he was now having to share his room with "some bloody awful vet."
While initially somewhat aloof, Horner apologised for his unforgivable outburst. One night, after a heated argument on the merits or otherwise of the composer Wagner (Horner, against; Hancock, for), a friendship was born as the cavalryman realised that there was a great deal more to the "bloody awful vet" than he had first assumed. When leaving Tidworth to join the Eighth (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars, Horner said goodbye to Hancock with the words: "You have been such a delightful companion." Edward Horner died of wounds sustained at Noyelles, Picardy on 21 November 1917, aged 28 years. He was the last male heir of the Horner family. A 16-year-old younger brother had died in 1908, and his sister, who eventually inherited the estate, had suffered the loss of her husband, Raymond Asquith, who was killed in France in 1916 while serving with the Grenadier Guards.
Turning now to the Munnings statue. This was commissioned by Lady Horner, Edward's mother, through the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens had close links with the Horners and Mells where he had designed the grand, outdoor memorial to those from the village who fell in the Great War, (he also designed the bus shelter!). The statue was the first work undertaken by Munnings after he purchased Castle House at Dedham, to where his sectional, mobile studio was moved from Swainsthorpe. I am not sure which usually comes first: a statue or its plinth? In this case Lutyens gave Munnings the dimensions of the plinth base: 5 feet by 3 feet, 6 inches, (it is approximately 5 feet high). In relation to this plinth, Munnings decided the horse carrying Horner should be seen as about the size of a deer. He had photographs from which to work, and he would also have known that Horner was very tall. Munnings was assisted by a sculptor friend named Waters, about whom I can find no further information. After making two small statuettes for Lady Horner's approval, Waters and the village blacksmith built the armature on which the former and Munnings applied the clay. Unusually, the plaster-cast was also made in the studio, and a full account of the work can be found in the second part of Munnings's autobiography, The Second Burst (1951).
For more than 85 years the statue stood in the Horner Chapel in Mells church. The plinth covered much of the accessible chapel floor, itself only 18 feet by 13 feet, including a 2-foot deep table monument running down the long side. This meant that it was virtually impossible to 'stand back' to admire the bronze, let alone take a good photograph if one wished to do so. Hancock remarks in his book that he "would like to see it [the statute and plinth] brought out some day into the body of the church where one can see it in a more spacious setting." Admiring the statue immensely and finding the horse and the youthful Horner's features beautifully portrayed, Hancock makes only one critical comment. This is that Munnings has failed to take account of the "extraordinary length of his (Horner's) limbs" which, even when riding a seventeen hands horse, reached "groundwards far further than those of any horseman I have ever seen."
After some resistance and argument, the statue has very recently been moved into the north side-aisle of the church, surrounded by other war memorials. Hancock, and I am sure Munnings, would be pleased that the figure can now be studied at full length and from all angles. It is signed: A.J. Munnings, Dedham, Essex, 1920. It is a remarkable bronze by an artist who rarely practised sculpture, (although the Horner statue led to a commission from the Jockey Club for Munnings to model the racehorse Brown Jack). Should you be in north Somerset, try to visit Mells.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Exhibition: From Stubbs to Munnings. Note 21.
Last September, while writing about the Sartorius family (Note 10), I mentioned James Harvey's wide-ranging exhibition of sporting art at his Gallery at 15 Langton Street, London SW10. Now, like the proverbial London buses arriving together after a long interval, there is a similar exhibition opening the day after tomorrow (2 June, continuing until the 26th). This exhibition is mounted by Dickinson, 58 Jermyn Street, SW1: Sporting Art, from Stubbs to Munnings, an Exhibition of 300 years of British Sporting Art, is the full title. It is a selling exhibition, but among the paintings hanging on the walls are a number of very choice examples of the genre on loan from private collections.
Before describing some of the exhibits, particularly those of small size, I have some sympathy with the browser of catalogues who is confused by the size of the picture illustrations compared to the dimensions of the real thing. Of course, one should look at the measurements given, but how often have you seen a comparatively large photograph in a catalogue and then spent time searching the exhibition or sale-room walls only to discover the picture tucked away in a corner to be of 'cabinet' size? It works the other way too! Plainly the designers of catalogues would have fits if they were asked to provide all the catalogue illustrations in proportion to the size of the originals - but how useful it would be to discover at a glance, by size, the picture you were looking for!
This impossible thought came into my head when admiring Dickinson's catalogue (as tall as but slightly wider than A4). The opening page has two photographs of similar size, one above the other. The top is of a really good example of John Wootton horse portraiture. It is of The Prince of Denmark's horse, Leedes, held [being led] by a Groom, (39 x 49 inches). Below is A Lion and Lioness by George Stubbs, a 1778 enamel on Wedgwood earthenware, 17 x 24 inches. The first is on loan. The size of an illustration is often related to the importance of the painting or painter, as here, although another nice Wootton, A Grey Racehorse held by a Groom (40 x 50 inches) is illustrated later in the catalogue where there are four photographs to the page. But that is enough of that!
There are lovely equestrian portraits by John Ferneley and by John Frederick Herring Snr., again the first is on loan. The Ferneley is of Andrew Berkeley Drummond mounted on Butcher at Cadland, and the Herring shows The Hon. Edward Petre's The Colonel with William Scott up. It was painted in the year that The Colonel won the 1828 St Leger. The Colonel's trainer, Bill Scott's brother John Scott and a groom are in attendance. Both paintings demonstrate each artist's ability to paint sympathtically both horses and people but, really above all, they breath the air of those portrayed being masters of all they survey in their respective sporting roles. The landscape backgounds are of a tranquil England - even on Doncaster racecourse. I have difficulty in classifying many of Sir Edwin Landseer's paintings as 'sporting' works. He was an extraordinarily observant painter of animals of every kind from polar bears to greyhounds but, at times, as in this exhibition, he seemed preoccupied with death, perhaps a portent of his later bouts of irrational temper and depression. A Deer just Shot, and its pair Deer fallen from a Precipice, painted around 1828-29 (each 18 x 24 inches), are uncomfortable pictures of this usually magnificent animal in distress - sporting pictures? I think not; but where else do you exhibit them if not among sporting and animal paintings?
Among the exhibitions smaller pictures are a pair of those rarities, fishing paintings by James Pollard. They are of Pike Fishing at Waltham Abbey, Essex and Trout Fishing at Beddington Corner, Surrey. Both are on panel, 7 x 10 inches. Pollard was a keen fisherman himself when not being pursued by his father to engrave, or painting his lively, decorative coaching scenes. These little jems, 6 x 8 inches, have the added interest of being identifiable scenes and, had they not also been on loan, would, as they say, fly off the wall into new ownership. Another small pair of paintings, 6 x 8 inches, are shooting pictures apparently by the little known artist, John Pitman. More usually associated with painting horses or cattle (and a few pictures of dead game), Pitman rarely strayed far from Worcetsershire where he was born in 1789. The paintings are of Pheasant Shooting and Grouse Shooting. In the latter scene the fenced and wooded landscape suggests that the grouse have flown far from their usual habitat, although in years gone by I have attempted to shoot grouse in North Wales. Pitman was a close friend of the miniature painter James Clements who moved from London to Worcester in about 1820. He included Pitman in miniature in his fascinating group portrait of some local gentlemen and businessmen Bowling on the Green at the Saracen's Head, Worcester, 1821. Pitman died at Alveley, Shropshire in 1850. It is valuable to add these two pictures to the short list of his known work. Among other small paintings is a Spaniel flushing out a Pheasant (7 x 9 inches), 1838, by William J. Shayer and, from the previous year, the slightly larger, exuberant Flora, Springer Spaniel [in the act of retrieving] of Mr R.L. Evans, by the more versatile Francis Calcraft Turner.
These are just a few of the interesting pictures in the exhibition which includes French and English bronzes as well as a pair of typically smooth and tactile studies of Thoroughbred Horses by the American, Herbert Heseltine, who spent some years in England at the beginning of the 20th Century. The exhibition provides a reminder of the development of sporting art in this country from the slight stiffness of Wootton's equine portraits to the semi-impressionism of Munnings. There are some familiar friends seen before, but the whole exhibition succeeds in embracing the years between the mid-18th and 20th centuries, as the exhibition title foretells. Members of the British Sporting Art Trust have a Private View on 9 June.
Returning to the beginning of this Note, James Harvey is holding a one-man exhibition of the paintings and drawings of the contemporary Daniel Crane, "Horsey Pictures in Ascot Week", at his SW10 Gallery from 7 June until 2 July.
Before describing some of the exhibits, particularly those of small size, I have some sympathy with the browser of catalogues who is confused by the size of the picture illustrations compared to the dimensions of the real thing. Of course, one should look at the measurements given, but how often have you seen a comparatively large photograph in a catalogue and then spent time searching the exhibition or sale-room walls only to discover the picture tucked away in a corner to be of 'cabinet' size? It works the other way too! Plainly the designers of catalogues would have fits if they were asked to provide all the catalogue illustrations in proportion to the size of the originals - but how useful it would be to discover at a glance, by size, the picture you were looking for!
This impossible thought came into my head when admiring Dickinson's catalogue (as tall as but slightly wider than A4). The opening page has two photographs of similar size, one above the other. The top is of a really good example of John Wootton horse portraiture. It is of The Prince of Denmark's horse, Leedes, held [being led] by a Groom, (39 x 49 inches). Below is A Lion and Lioness by George Stubbs, a 1778 enamel on Wedgwood earthenware, 17 x 24 inches. The first is on loan. The size of an illustration is often related to the importance of the painting or painter, as here, although another nice Wootton, A Grey Racehorse held by a Groom (40 x 50 inches) is illustrated later in the catalogue where there are four photographs to the page. But that is enough of that!
There are lovely equestrian portraits by John Ferneley and by John Frederick Herring Snr., again the first is on loan. The Ferneley is of Andrew Berkeley Drummond mounted on Butcher at Cadland, and the Herring shows The Hon. Edward Petre's The Colonel with William Scott up. It was painted in the year that The Colonel won the 1828 St Leger. The Colonel's trainer, Bill Scott's brother John Scott and a groom are in attendance. Both paintings demonstrate each artist's ability to paint sympathtically both horses and people but, really above all, they breath the air of those portrayed being masters of all they survey in their respective sporting roles. The landscape backgounds are of a tranquil England - even on Doncaster racecourse. I have difficulty in classifying many of Sir Edwin Landseer's paintings as 'sporting' works. He was an extraordinarily observant painter of animals of every kind from polar bears to greyhounds but, at times, as in this exhibition, he seemed preoccupied with death, perhaps a portent of his later bouts of irrational temper and depression. A Deer just Shot, and its pair Deer fallen from a Precipice, painted around 1828-29 (each 18 x 24 inches), are uncomfortable pictures of this usually magnificent animal in distress - sporting pictures? I think not; but where else do you exhibit them if not among sporting and animal paintings?
Among the exhibitions smaller pictures are a pair of those rarities, fishing paintings by James Pollard. They are of Pike Fishing at Waltham Abbey, Essex and Trout Fishing at Beddington Corner, Surrey. Both are on panel, 7 x 10 inches. Pollard was a keen fisherman himself when not being pursued by his father to engrave, or painting his lively, decorative coaching scenes. These little jems, 6 x 8 inches, have the added interest of being identifiable scenes and, had they not also been on loan, would, as they say, fly off the wall into new ownership. Another small pair of paintings, 6 x 8 inches, are shooting pictures apparently by the little known artist, John Pitman. More usually associated with painting horses or cattle (and a few pictures of dead game), Pitman rarely strayed far from Worcetsershire where he was born in 1789. The paintings are of Pheasant Shooting and Grouse Shooting. In the latter scene the fenced and wooded landscape suggests that the grouse have flown far from their usual habitat, although in years gone by I have attempted to shoot grouse in North Wales. Pitman was a close friend of the miniature painter James Clements who moved from London to Worcester in about 1820. He included Pitman in miniature in his fascinating group portrait of some local gentlemen and businessmen Bowling on the Green at the Saracen's Head, Worcester, 1821. Pitman died at Alveley, Shropshire in 1850. It is valuable to add these two pictures to the short list of his known work. Among other small paintings is a Spaniel flushing out a Pheasant (7 x 9 inches), 1838, by William J. Shayer and, from the previous year, the slightly larger, exuberant Flora, Springer Spaniel [in the act of retrieving] of Mr R.L. Evans, by the more versatile Francis Calcraft Turner.
These are just a few of the interesting pictures in the exhibition which includes French and English bronzes as well as a pair of typically smooth and tactile studies of Thoroughbred Horses by the American, Herbert Heseltine, who spent some years in England at the beginning of the 20th Century. The exhibition provides a reminder of the development of sporting art in this country from the slight stiffness of Wootton's equine portraits to the semi-impressionism of Munnings. There are some familiar friends seen before, but the whole exhibition succeeds in embracing the years between the mid-18th and 20th centuries, as the exhibition title foretells. Members of the British Sporting Art Trust have a Private View on 9 June.
Returning to the beginning of this Note, James Harvey is holding a one-man exhibition of the paintings and drawings of the contemporary Daniel Crane, "Horsey Pictures in Ascot Week", at his SW10 Gallery from 7 June until 2 July.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
F.L. Wilder's Catalogue of English Sporting Prints. No.20.
At this time of year the need to garden conflicts with any wishes I have to write a Sporting Art Note. But I have another task (entirely self-inflicted) which is to 'edit' the F.L. Wilder Archive that has recently been given to the British Sporting Art Trust (BSAT) by the late Mr Wilder's friend and business partner, Hildegard Fritz-Denneville. This task is far more interesting than gardening, so I devote my mornings to it and garden in the afternoon (if it is dry!).
F.L. Wilder, known as 'Tim' to many, died on the 1st of September 1993 in his 101st year. He joined the fine art auctioneers Sotheby, Wilkinson, Hodge, as they were then named, in 1911. Serving briefly in the First World War (in which two older brothers lost their lives), he became disabled by severe rheumatic fever. Returning to Sotheby's he remained with them until retirement in 1976. His prime interest was in prints. He published, with a younger brother, Print Prices Current from 1918 to 1939. He also published How to Identify Prints in 1969, and the now familiar picture book, English Sporting Prints in 1974. His other interests ranged from Rembrandt's etchings to discovering previously unrecognised oil sketches by John Constable.
In the 1920s the print market was at its height with remarkable prices being paid for good impressions, particularly of mezzotints. However, it was in some respects a false market and it collapsed as quickly as it had grown. Frank Siltzer published The Story of British Sporting Prints in 1925, and a limited edition in larger format followed in 1929. The 1929 edition has been, and still is, the main source document for those interested in sporting prints. The book is part anecdotal accounts of the artists and part catalogue of prints after their work. Wonderful as it is, Siltzer depended almost entirely on his own observation of prints that, quite naturally, left some gaps and a few mistakes. Wilder decided (I am not sure when) to replace Siltzer's book with a magnus opus of his own: A Catalogue of English Sporting Prints. Among much other valuable archive material given to the BSAT is Wilder's copy of Siltzer. Every page is covered with minute pencil corrections and additions. Perhaps running out of room for further comment in the pages of Siltzer, Wilder decided to compile his own catalogue?
This was an immense undertaking. The late Mr Fores said that he found it was impossible to catalogue all the work of one artist, Henry Alken Snr., let alone all sporting artists (although there were none more prolific than Alken). Wilder was well placed at Sotheby's, cataloguing and researching (among many other tasks) the sporting and decorative prints that passed through the auction house. I remember visiting him in his small office - hardly bigger than a broom cupboard, and his kindness in answering my questions about the engravers of sporting aquatints in whom I was interested. While he seemed to be extraordinarily busy, there was always time to help others. I was then working in London, and it was Wilder who introduced me to Dudley Snelgrove who was cataloguing the Paul Mellon Collection of Sporting and Animal Prints. Dudley Snelgrove worked in an upstairs room in Dover Street and he invited me to eat my lunchtime sandwiches with him on a number of occasions. At that time, he was working on the Duke of Gloucester's collection of prints (mainly hunting, after Alken) that Mr Mellon had bought from the Duke in 1956. The collection was housed in twelve leather-bound, crested, elephant folios of prints in pristine condition, some with the original watercolours from which they were engraved on facing pages. It was glorious to see the colours of Alken's First Steeple Chase on Record so well interpreted by John Harris in the engravings (aquatints) that had a plum-like bloom in their dark areas.
Wilder's catalogue covers all the usual fieldsports, racing, equestrian portraits, as well as cricket, pugilism, pedestrianism and many other traditional country sports and pastimes. It comprises about 3,000 loose sheets of varying size from foolscap to narrow slip of paper: most are typescript, a few manuscript. These pieces of paper are catalogued alphabetically and chronologically by artist (for Henry Alken there are over 300 sheets), a few containing the details of a single print, others cover a complete series or set. Also included are the names of those artists who had their work illustrated in The Sporting Magazine, New Sporting Magazine, The Sportsman and The Sporting Review. In all, I have listed 1,000 names of artists!
Sadly, Wilder's life-long ambition to replace Siltzer with his own published catalogue of sporting prints is unfulfilled, and without serious outside sponsorship (since the material is not yet in publishable form) this could not be contemplated by the BSAT. Added to this is the fact that current interest in the subject is small, and any financial return on outlay would be minuscule. However, it is an immensely valuable archive that will shortly be housed in the BSAT's reference library at Newmarket, where it can be consulted. Back to the garden!
F.L. Wilder, known as 'Tim' to many, died on the 1st of September 1993 in his 101st year. He joined the fine art auctioneers Sotheby, Wilkinson, Hodge, as they were then named, in 1911. Serving briefly in the First World War (in which two older brothers lost their lives), he became disabled by severe rheumatic fever. Returning to Sotheby's he remained with them until retirement in 1976. His prime interest was in prints. He published, with a younger brother, Print Prices Current from 1918 to 1939. He also published How to Identify Prints in 1969, and the now familiar picture book, English Sporting Prints in 1974. His other interests ranged from Rembrandt's etchings to discovering previously unrecognised oil sketches by John Constable.
In the 1920s the print market was at its height with remarkable prices being paid for good impressions, particularly of mezzotints. However, it was in some respects a false market and it collapsed as quickly as it had grown. Frank Siltzer published The Story of British Sporting Prints in 1925, and a limited edition in larger format followed in 1929. The 1929 edition has been, and still is, the main source document for those interested in sporting prints. The book is part anecdotal accounts of the artists and part catalogue of prints after their work. Wonderful as it is, Siltzer depended almost entirely on his own observation of prints that, quite naturally, left some gaps and a few mistakes. Wilder decided (I am not sure when) to replace Siltzer's book with a magnus opus of his own: A Catalogue of English Sporting Prints. Among much other valuable archive material given to the BSAT is Wilder's copy of Siltzer. Every page is covered with minute pencil corrections and additions. Perhaps running out of room for further comment in the pages of Siltzer, Wilder decided to compile his own catalogue?
This was an immense undertaking. The late Mr Fores said that he found it was impossible to catalogue all the work of one artist, Henry Alken Snr., let alone all sporting artists (although there were none more prolific than Alken). Wilder was well placed at Sotheby's, cataloguing and researching (among many other tasks) the sporting and decorative prints that passed through the auction house. I remember visiting him in his small office - hardly bigger than a broom cupboard, and his kindness in answering my questions about the engravers of sporting aquatints in whom I was interested. While he seemed to be extraordinarily busy, there was always time to help others. I was then working in London, and it was Wilder who introduced me to Dudley Snelgrove who was cataloguing the Paul Mellon Collection of Sporting and Animal Prints. Dudley Snelgrove worked in an upstairs room in Dover Street and he invited me to eat my lunchtime sandwiches with him on a number of occasions. At that time, he was working on the Duke of Gloucester's collection of prints (mainly hunting, after Alken) that Mr Mellon had bought from the Duke in 1956. The collection was housed in twelve leather-bound, crested, elephant folios of prints in pristine condition, some with the original watercolours from which they were engraved on facing pages. It was glorious to see the colours of Alken's First Steeple Chase on Record so well interpreted by John Harris in the engravings (aquatints) that had a plum-like bloom in their dark areas.
Wilder's catalogue covers all the usual fieldsports, racing, equestrian portraits, as well as cricket, pugilism, pedestrianism and many other traditional country sports and pastimes. It comprises about 3,000 loose sheets of varying size from foolscap to narrow slip of paper: most are typescript, a few manuscript. These pieces of paper are catalogued alphabetically and chronologically by artist (for Henry Alken there are over 300 sheets), a few containing the details of a single print, others cover a complete series or set. Also included are the names of those artists who had their work illustrated in The Sporting Magazine, New Sporting Magazine, The Sportsman and The Sporting Review. In all, I have listed 1,000 names of artists!
Sadly, Wilder's life-long ambition to replace Siltzer with his own published catalogue of sporting prints is unfulfilled, and without serious outside sponsorship (since the material is not yet in publishable form) this could not be contemplated by the BSAT. Added to this is the fact that current interest in the subject is small, and any financial return on outlay would be minuscule. However, it is an immensely valuable archive that will shortly be housed in the BSAT's reference library at Newmarket, where it can be consulted. Back to the garden!
Sunday, 26 April 2009
The British Sporting Art Trust. Note 19.
From time to time I have mentioned the British Sporting Art Trust (BSAT) in these Notes. This Note provides more information about the Trust. A short cut is to visit the website: www.bsat.co.uk
The Trust was established in 1977 by a group of individuals who felt that the absence of recognition by the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) of an important aspect of our lives and art heritage was woeful. This feeling was compounded by the realisation that a large number of our best sporting pictures were being sold and going abroad, particularly to America. This was at a time when such paintings were not thought of by their buyers as alternative investments - they valued them for what they were and and what they depicted. The Tate had a very small holding of sporting pictures that largely remained hidden in their cellars.
The Trust has been a Registered Charity (No. 274156) from the outset. The original trustees each gave £10 towards a fund, wondering about their future liability and the likely bank overdraft they might have to pay off! Often short of money, the Trust has however grown and grown with its own collection of paintings, prints and books now valued at £3M. In essence, the objectives of the Trust remain as in the first charter:
a. To form and display a representative Collection of British Sporting Art.
b. To mount loan exhibition of 20th Century sporting art.
c. To support and publish research on the subject of sporting art.
d. To sponsor young artists and students in their study of sporting art.
Through the Trust, over 50 sporting works of art have been acquired for Tate Britain, including a gift of 30 pictures from the late Mr Paul Mellon KBE and the Mrs F. Ambrose Clark Bequest. Both Mr Mellon and the husband of Mrs Ambrose Clark were enthusiastic American anglophiles who, in this way, returned some magnificent sporting pictures to Britain. Initially these pictures were displayed at the Tate, but the interest of successive Directors soon waned. To achieve the first charter objective it became imperative for the Trust to find its own home. London would have been an ideal location, but this proved far too costly. In 1986 the Trust's Vestey Gallery of Sporting Art was opened at the National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket by its Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Here there are annually changing exhibitions of some of the best sporting pictures in the country. The Gallery was enlarged to include a Print Room and Reference Library in 1991; the latter is now a valuable research aid.
In the past the Trust has mounted loan exhibitions on 2oth Century Sporting Art, as well as separate exhibitions of the work of Cecil Aldin and Lionel Edwards in London, Paris and English provincial public galleries. This summer there will be a loan exhibition of paintings and drawings by Lowes Dalbiac Luard RBA (1872-1944) at Newmarket. Among the many Trust publications An Inventory of Sporting Art on Public Display in the United Kingdom and an up-to-date Bibliography of British Sporting Artists have proved extremely useful to anyone interest in the subject. The Trust also continues to provide grants to public galleries to help them buy sporting pictures, for conservation, and to graduate and post-graduate students.
Perhaps one of the most attractive benefits to members of the Trust is the opportunity to visit private collections of sporting art in the United Kingdom and abroad. Past countries visited include America, the Irish Republic, France, Austria, Portugal, Belgium and Spain. Closer to home, the recent AGM (22 April 2009) held at the All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon, included a lunch, a visit to the Tennis Museum and a guided tour of the whole complex with an explanation of the mechanics of the new Centre Court roof. There are also invitations to private views of exhibitions and sales of sporting art.
During my 30 or so years as a member of the Trust, I have seen it develop and grow far beyond the expectations of its founders. There are now plans for a further exciting expansion at Newmarket. Visit: www.bsat.co.uk
The Trust was established in 1977 by a group of individuals who felt that the absence of recognition by the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) of an important aspect of our lives and art heritage was woeful. This feeling was compounded by the realisation that a large number of our best sporting pictures were being sold and going abroad, particularly to America. This was at a time when such paintings were not thought of by their buyers as alternative investments - they valued them for what they were and and what they depicted. The Tate had a very small holding of sporting pictures that largely remained hidden in their cellars.
The Trust has been a Registered Charity (No. 274156) from the outset. The original trustees each gave £10 towards a fund, wondering about their future liability and the likely bank overdraft they might have to pay off! Often short of money, the Trust has however grown and grown with its own collection of paintings, prints and books now valued at £3M. In essence, the objectives of the Trust remain as in the first charter:
a. To form and display a representative Collection of British Sporting Art.
b. To mount loan exhibition of 20th Century sporting art.
c. To support and publish research on the subject of sporting art.
d. To sponsor young artists and students in their study of sporting art.
Through the Trust, over 50 sporting works of art have been acquired for Tate Britain, including a gift of 30 pictures from the late Mr Paul Mellon KBE and the Mrs F. Ambrose Clark Bequest. Both Mr Mellon and the husband of Mrs Ambrose Clark were enthusiastic American anglophiles who, in this way, returned some magnificent sporting pictures to Britain. Initially these pictures were displayed at the Tate, but the interest of successive Directors soon waned. To achieve the first charter objective it became imperative for the Trust to find its own home. London would have been an ideal location, but this proved far too costly. In 1986 the Trust's Vestey Gallery of Sporting Art was opened at the National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket by its Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Here there are annually changing exhibitions of some of the best sporting pictures in the country. The Gallery was enlarged to include a Print Room and Reference Library in 1991; the latter is now a valuable research aid.
In the past the Trust has mounted loan exhibitions on 2oth Century Sporting Art, as well as separate exhibitions of the work of Cecil Aldin and Lionel Edwards in London, Paris and English provincial public galleries. This summer there will be a loan exhibition of paintings and drawings by Lowes Dalbiac Luard RBA (1872-1944) at Newmarket. Among the many Trust publications An Inventory of Sporting Art on Public Display in the United Kingdom and an up-to-date Bibliography of British Sporting Artists have proved extremely useful to anyone interest in the subject. The Trust also continues to provide grants to public galleries to help them buy sporting pictures, for conservation, and to graduate and post-graduate students.
Perhaps one of the most attractive benefits to members of the Trust is the opportunity to visit private collections of sporting art in the United Kingdom and abroad. Past countries visited include America, the Irish Republic, France, Austria, Portugal, Belgium and Spain. Closer to home, the recent AGM (22 April 2009) held at the All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon, included a lunch, a visit to the Tennis Museum and a guided tour of the whole complex with an explanation of the mechanics of the new Centre Court roof. There are also invitations to private views of exhibitions and sales of sporting art.
During my 30 or so years as a member of the Trust, I have seen it develop and grow far beyond the expectations of its founders. There are now plans for a further exciting expansion at Newmarket. Visit: www.bsat.co.uk
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