Heinrich Sperling 1844-1924
Heinrich Sperling was a German artist, his canine works are highly sought after.
Reuben Ward Binks. 1880-1950
Born in Bolton Lancashire, son of a watchmaker. Binks was considered a leading artist in his day, he painted for the British Monarchy and the Maharaja.
Reuben Ward Binks. 1880-1950
Born in Bolton Lancashire, son of a watchmaker. Binks was considered a leading artist in his day, he painted for the British Monarchy and the Maharaja.
Louis William Wain. 1860 -1939
Wain was born on 5th August 1860. His father was a traveller for a textile firm: his mother, of French emigre descent, designed church embroideries and carpets. He studied at the West London School of Art, and began his career as an art journalist, drawing many different subjects. However, it was for his pictures of cats that he eventually became famous. From the 1880’s until the outbreak of the first world war, the ‘Louis Wain cat’ was hugely popular. Appearing in vast quantities in prints, books, magazines, postcards and annuals, Wain’s cats are to be found engaging in every form of human activity – from playing cricket, digging up roads, and riding bicycles, to parading the latest fashions at Ascot and making pompous after-dinner speeches at the club.
Despite his fame Wain never made much money, being highly impractical in business matters, and during the war he began to suffer real poverty. Always known as being somewhat eccentric, he now began to develop signs of serious mental disorder. Previously a mild and gentle man, he became increasingly suspicious, abusive and occasionally even violent towards his sisters with whom he lived
Eventually in June 1924, he was certified insane and committed to Springfield Hospital (the former Surrey County Asylum) at Tooting. ‘Discovered’ here the following year, he was transferred to Bethlem Hospital after a campaign by admirers of his work, including the Prime Minister Ramsey Macdonald. (Macdonald later arranged for the Wain sisters to receive a small Civil List pension in recognition of their brother’s services to popular art.)
In 1930 Louis Wain was transferred to Napsbury Hospital, near St. Albans. He continued drawing until near the end of his life, and exhibitions of his work were held in London in 1931 and 1937, as well as a memorial exhibition shortly after his death. He died at Napsbury on 4th July 1939.
A beautiful watercolour of a dog. Signed by the artist twice and inscribed “Beg For It” – the dog has a sugar lump resting on his nose! Wain is best known for his cat watercolours but also often painted dogs. This piece is a good size and in very nice condition with fresh colours – still on its original paper and not laid down.measures 13 x 11 inches
Louis William Wain 1860 – 1939
Wain was born on 5th August 1860. His father was a traveller for a textile firm: his mother, of French emigre descent, designed church embroideries and carpets. He studied at the West London School of Art, and began his career as an art journalist, drawing many different subjects. However, it was for his pictures of cats that he eventually became famous. From the 1880’s until the outbreak of the first world war, the ‘Louis Wain cat’ was hugely popular. Appearing in vast quantities in prints, books, magazines, postcards and annuals, Wain’s cats are to be found engaging in every form of human activity – from playing cricket, digging up roads, and riding bicycles, to parading the latest fashions at Ascot and making pompous after-dinner speeches at the club.
Despite his fame Wain never made much money, being highly impractical in business matters, and during the war he began to suffer real poverty. Always known as being somewhat eccentric, he now began to develop signs of serious mental disorder. Previously a mild and gentle man, he became increasingly suspicious, abusive and occasionally even violent towards his sisters with whom he lived
Eventually in June 1924, he was certified insane and committed to Springfield Hospital (the former Surrey County Asylum) at Tooting. ‘Discovered’ here the following year, he was transferred to Bethlem Hospital after a campaign by admirers of his work, including the Prime Minister Ramsey Macdonald. (Macdonald later arranged for the Wain sisters to receive a small Civil List pension in recognition of their brother’s services to popular art.)
In 1930 Louis Wain was transferred to Napsbury Hospital, near St. Albans. He continued drawing until near the end of his life, and exhibitions of his work were held in London in 1931 and 1937, as well as a memorial exhibition shortly after his death. He died at Napsbury on 4th July 1939.
A sepia watercolor of four Hounds, painted as a special commission, circa 1930, signed lower left, 23 by 18cm.
7×9 inches.
Lionel Edwards 1878 –1966
Lionel Edwards, A British artist who specialized in painting horses and other aspects of British country life. He is best known for his hunting scenes but also painted pictures of horse racing, shooting and fishing. He provided illustrations for Country Life, The Sphere, The Graphic and numerous books.
The son of a doctor, Edwards grew up at Benarth, a small estate in Conway, North Wales. His father, from whom he acquired his love of fox hunting, died when he was seven. From an early age, he showed a talent for drawing horses, an artistic trait which may have come from his maternal grandmother, who was a pupil of George Romney. It seemed he was heading for an Army career until it became apparent that his talents did not lie in that direction so his mother allowed him to study art in London, first with A.S. Cope and later at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and Frank Calderon’s School of Animal Painting.
He became the youngest member of the London Sketch Club at the age of nineteen. In 1905, he married Ethel Wells and the couple moved out of London to Radley, in Oxfordshire, and later to Worcestershire, before moving back to Benarth. They both were enthusiastic fox hunters: during his life, Edwards hunted with almost every pack in the country.
On the outbreak of the Great War, he volunteered as a Remount Purchasing Officer along with his contemporaries, Cecil Aldin and Sir Alfred Munnings. On being demobilized, he and his family moved to West Tytherley, near Salisbury, where he lived for the rest of his life.
His artistic output was remarkable: he wrote almost 30 books and illustrated many more, including editions of Black Beauty, Lorna Doone and The Black Arrow, in addition to numerous private commissions. He became a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1926 and the Royal Institute in 1927. His favorite medium was watercolours although he used oils more in his later years. He worked to the end of his life, dying from a stroke at his home on 13 April 1966.
John Sanderson Wells 1872
1955.John Sanderson Wells was a London artist who specialised in sporting and animal painting. He studied at the Slade School of Art in London, and later at the Academie Julian in Paris. From 1895 he was a regular contributor at the Royal Academy and was elected to the Royal Institute in 1903.
Much of Wells’ work was privately commissioned. These subjects were mainly hunting subjects – including one for the Duke of Beaufort. Wells painted in a naturalistic style, his painting is technically very well executed and a feeling of graceful movement is evident in his compositions.
His work is in many important private collections, and is highly sought after. He died on 16th March 1955.
Falling at the brook. Watercolour. 30 x 50cm.
George James Rankin. 1864 – 1937.
Barn Owl.
George James Rankin was a Scottish Artist.
This watercolor is the original image that was used in his British book of birds.
George James Rankin. 1864 – 1937.
Tree Creeper.
George James Rankin was a Scottish Artist.
This watercolor is the original image that was used in his British book of birds.
George James Rankin. 1864 – 1937.
Rock Pipit.
George James Rankin was a Scottish Artist.
This watercolor is the original image that was used in his British book of birds.
George James Rankin. 1864 – 1937.
Tree Pipit.
George James Rankin was a Scottish Artist.
This watercolor is the original image that was used in his British book of birds.
George James Rankin. 1864 – 1937.
Great Crested Grebe.
George James Rankin was a Scottish Artist.
This watercolor is the original image that was used in his British book of birds.
Frank Paton 1855–1909
Stunning watercolour signed F Paton.
Frank Paton was an English artist of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for his paintings of animals and scenes of rural life. He was a successful artist during his lifetime and could even count Queen Victoria as an admirer of his work. His most famous compositions, “Fairest of Them All” and “Puss in Boots” (1880), have adorned many a wall in the form of plates and posters. In addition, his series of printed Christmas cards published between 1880 and 1909 have become an affordable way for those interested in Paton’s art to begin a collection.
17 x 24 cm 29cm x 37cm inc frame
Frederick Lewis 1882 –
Pair of watercolors.
William Sidney Cooper 1854–1927
William trained with his Great-Uncle Thomas Sidney Cooper at his School of Art in Canterbury. William became a successful artist exhibiting at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists (Suffolk Street galleries, London) and the Royal Watercolour Society.
Cooper married in 1882, and in 1890 moved to Herne Bay in Kent where he remained for the rest of his life. As well as painting professionally, he was a keen golfer and liked to play Tennis and Bowls. He was also a musician and took part in local musical events.
Much of Cooper’s work reflects the countryside around Herne Bay and often contain cattle (which were his speciality) and sheep as in his Great Uncle’s work. He died in 1927 and is buried in the churchyard at Eddington, Kent
John Alexander Harington Bird. British 1846-1936
Born on May 23 rd, Bird was educated in London, and intended to follow a military career but turned to art instead, and studied at the RA Schools. In 1875 he went to Montreal, Canada, where he took the post of Director of Art, the Board of School Commissions. He exhibited at the Royal Canadian Academy and became an associate member in 1880. In 1995 he returned to London where he lived for many years. Bird painted a great number of equestrian scenes, some for the Royal family and many Arabian horse scenes. The sports he covered include foxhunting, coaching, dressage, pig-sticking, coursing and racing. He died on January 3 rd 1936 in London. He worked in both oil and watercolor and painted a variety of subjects, particularly horses. A number of prints were published after his work, including “The Queen’s Race Winners”, a series of thirteen portraits of racehorses with jockeys up, and he also illustrated a number of publications. Bird’s work at its best is very finished but without the tightness of some of his contemporaries. He captures horses’ movements well and some of his hunting scenes are outstanding.
AN ORIGINAL FRAMED WATERCOLOUR BY JOHN ALEXANDER HARRINGTON BIRD (1846-1936) WITH GALLERY EXHIBITION LABEL ON REVERSE
John Alexander Harington Bird. British 1846-1936
Born on May 23 rd, Bird was educated in London, and intended to follow a military career but turned to art instead, and studied at the RA Schools. In 1875 he went to Montreal, Canada, where he took the post of Director of Art, the Board of School Commissions. He exhibited at the Royal Canadian Academy and became an associate member in 1880. In 1995 he returned to London where he lived for many years. Bird painted a great number of equestrian scenes, some for the Royal family and many Arabian horse scenes. The sports he covered include foxhunting, coaching, dressage, pig-sticking, coursing and racing. He died on January 3 rd 1936 in London. He worked in both oil and watercolor and painted a variety of subjects, particularly horses. A number of prints were published after his work, including “The Queen’s Race Winners”, a series of thirteen portraits of racehorses with jockeys up, and he also illustrated a number of publications. Bird’s work at its best is very finished but without the tightness of some of his contemporaries. He captures horses’ movements well and some of his hunting scenes are outstanding.
JOHN ALEXANDER HARRINGTON BIRD ( 1846-1936) WATERCOLOUR OF AN WAPITI
George Ernest Studdy.1878-1948
George Ernest Studdy. 23 June 1878 – 25 July 1948 was a British commercial artist. He is best remembered for his creation of Bonzo the dog, a fictional character in the early 1920s that first appeared in The Sketch Magazine.
He worked as an engineer and then in a stockbroking firm to make ends meet. He attended night classes at Heatherley’s Art School in London to study drawing as well as studying animal anatomy at Calderon’s Animal School.
After art school, he shared a studio with several friends from art school while working to complete a portfolio. He was able to sell a few of his sketches to local newspapers and magazines. A few newspapers later commissioned Studdy to draw action scenes to go along with articles on the Boer War.
In 1900, as Studdy’s sketches started to gain popularity, Comic Cuts, Boys Own and Pick-Me-Up began to publish Studdy’s sketches regularly. It was about this time that he started his long relationship with Valentine & Sons postcards of Dundee. One of the first set they published was a series of six sketches called “The Evolution of the Motor Car”
In 1912, Studdy married his wife Blanche Landrin. That same year he signed a contract with The Sketch to produce a weekly full-page drawing.
When war broke out, he was commissioned by Gaumont to produce a series of short films called Studdy’s War Studies. Studdy later introduced Bonzo into his sketches.
His Bonzo character was a chubby little white pup with sparse black spots, a stubby tail and big blue eyes. Bonzo became the inspiration for much commercial merchandise, such as cuddly and mechanical toys, ashtrays, pincushions, trinket boxes, car mascots, jigsaw puzzles, books, calendars, candies, and a profusion of postcards.
Bonzo’s massive popularity allowed Studdy and his wife to live a very comfortable life until he died in 1948……
A beautiful antique original water colour framed and glazed, signed G. E. Studdy In good condition, image measures 9.5 x 6.5 inches.
Frank Paton 1855 1909
Frank Paton was an English artist of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for his paintings of animals and scenes of rural life. He was a successful artist during his lifetime and could even count Queen Victoria as an admirer of his work. His most famous compositions, “Fairest of Them All” and “Puss in Boots” (1880), have adorned many a wall in the form of plates and posters. In addition, his series of printed Christmas cards published between 1880 and 1909 have become an affordable way for those interested in Paton’s art to begin a collection.
Stunning watercolour signed F Paton.
17 x 24 cm 29cm x 37cm inc frame
Arthur Wardle. 1860–1949
Aged just sixteen Wardle had a piece displayed at the Royal Academy. His first exhibit was a study of cattle by the River Thames, leading to a lifelong interest in painting animals. In 1880 Wardle lived in Oakley Square, Camden, but artistic success enabled him to move to the more upmarket 34 Alma Square in St John’s Wood by 1892. Wardle was prolific; until 1936 he exhibited more than 100 works at the Royal Academy as well as the Society of British Artists at Suffolk Street.
He painted a variety of animal subjects with equal skill but his work may be divided into two categories, domestic and exotic; animals from overseas including leopards, polar bears and tigers such as The Deer-Stealer (1915) were painted from sketches that he made at London Zoo. He is considered equally proficient in oils, watercolours and pastels and was elected to the Pastel Society in 1911 and became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1922. In 1931 he held his first one man exhibition at the Fine Art Society and in 1935 the Vicar’s Gallery put on an exhibition of his work. He also exhibited in Paris. By 1936 Wardle had moved to West London.
His career was highly successful and his works continue to be sought after and widely reproduced on postcards, calendars and boxes of chocolates. He remains one of the widely known dog painters of the 19th and 20th Centuries, and he is particularly known for his paintings of terriers. Wardle painted what is probably the best known painting of the fox terrier in its modern form, The Totteridge XI (1897). The painting was commissioned by famed smooth fox terrier breeder Francis Redmond; Wardle painted a number of Redmond’s dogs. The original is in the gallery of The Kennel Club in London.
Arthur Wardle died on July 16, 1949.
Arthur Wardle. 1860–1949
Aged just sixteen Wardle had a piece displayed at the Royal Academy. His first exhibit was a study of cattle by the River Thames, leading to a lifelong interest in painting animals. In 1880 Wardle lived in Oakley Square, Camden, but artistic success enabled him to move to the more upmarket 34 Alma Square in St John’s Wood by 1892. Wardle was prolific; until 1936 he exhibited more than 100 works at the Royal Academy as well as the Society of British Artists at Suffolk Street.
He painted a variety of animal subjects with equal skill but his work may be divided into two categories, domestic and exotic; animals from overseas including leopards, polar bears and tigers such as The Deer-Stealer (1915) were painted from sketches that he made at London Zoo. He is considered equally proficient in oils, watercolours and pastels and was elected to the Pastel Society in 1911 and became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1922. In 1931 he held his first one man exhibition at the Fine Art Society and in 1935 the Vicar’s Gallery put on an exhibition of his work. He also exhibited in Paris. By 1936 Wardle had moved to West London.
His career was highly successful and his works continue to be sought after and widely reproduced on postcards, calendars and boxes of chocolates. He remains one of the widely known dog painters of the 19th and 20th Centuries, and he is particularly known for his paintings of terriers. Wardle painted what is probably the best known painting of the fox terrier in its modern form, The Totteridge XI (1897). The painting was commissioned by famed smooth fox terrier breeder Francis Redmond; Wardle painted a number of Redmond’s dogs. The original is in the gallery of The Kennel Club in London.
Arthur Wardle died on July 16, 1949.