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.
Sunday 31 May 2009
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!
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