Thomas Blinks (English, 1860-1912)
Master of the Hunt,
signed "TBlinks" lower right
oil on board, 26 by 20 in.
inscribed "Thomas Blinks." and "No. 1." on label on back
Thomas Blinks was a self-taught English artist who flourished during the Victorian era. He was popular during his lifetime, exhibiting twenty-nine paintings at the Royal Academy in London between 1883 and 1910, and many of his dynamic hunt scenes and dog portraits were made into prints. Blinks studied horses and their characteristic movements on the grounds of Tattersalls, a horse auction company dating from 1766, and his highly realistic paintings display keen observation and a skilled hand. His works can be found in the Royal Collection, London, among others.
In this rare offering of four hunt scenes, Blinks illustrates different angles of the fox hunt. He captures the individual personality of the horses and foxhounds, particularly the interaction between the hunter and the hounds. The artist shows the fox slyly slinking over a stone wall, and depicts accurate, carefully observed anatomy of the horses and the motions and behavior of the riders as they course through bucolic fields of the countryside.
Provenance: Janet Hurst Collection
By descent to the current owner
Condition
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