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George Armfield“Manchester Terrier, 1854” 19th Century Dog Portrait in Landscape Ex-Bonhams Oil1854
1854
$5,950
£4,543.31
€5,172.72
CA$8,354.74
A$9,133.37
CHF 4,831.96
MX$109,295.40
NOK 61,479.77
SEK 56,278.51
DKK 38,637
About the Item
A fantastic example of George Armfield’s renowned portraits of dogs.
This work depicts a Manchester Terrier excitedly standing outside a rabbit hole on the edge of a forest. The terrier is painted at part profile/part three-quarters, highlighting its contours and anatomy. Armfield, utilizing his fluid brushwork, does a wonderful job adding a colorful array of flowers and plants in the surrounding area. In the distance, a small town sprouts out amongst the trees and below a set of billowing clouds.
The work is oil on canvas and is dated “1854” in the lower left. It is housed in an appropriate antique frame. It is unsigned.
This work previously sold at Bonhams
Butterfields in 2004 and comes from the collection of William Secord, the recognized authority on 19th century dog art. It was also exhibited at Secord’s NYC gallery in 2018.
Size:
25.5 inches tall by 31 inches wide (painting)
33 inches tall by 38.5 inches wide by 2 inches deep (frame)
Provenance:
Bonhams
Butterfields, March 30, 2004, lot 35 (realized $8,813);
Collection of William Secord, New York
Exhibited:
“The Dog in Art”, William Secord Gallery, NYC, 2018
About the artist:
Bristol born George Armfield, son of portrait artist William Armfield Hobday, was probably the most prolific dog painter of the nineteenth century. He painted dogs almost exclusively and produced innumerable charming scenes of terriers surrounding rabbit holes, spaniels putting up mallard, ratting terriers, and groups of sporting dogs in interiors. A small beribboned spaniel curled up on top of a large barrel is often featured.
Although the majority of his pictures are portraits of dogs, Armfield also painted horses, foxes, otters, deer and rabbits. He was renowned for his love of animals. He kept a small menagerie at his house, and was said to paint his subjects from life, thus accounting for the accuracy and special charm of his subjects. He was a keen sportsman and regularly went shooting, racing and hunting. In addition, Armfield was known to patronize the less reputable dens of dogfights and cockfights. It is recorded that he once spent three months at the Earl of Fitzwilliam’s stables painting the horses and hounds in the kennels.
Armfield earned substantial amounts of money for his painting, but spent it easily, gambling and giving it away to those in need. He was a hard worker, and produced a large number of canvases. Sadly, he began to go blind later in life and was unsuccessfully operated on for this ailment. Acutely depressed by his loss of sight, Armfield attempted suicide. When he recovered, he continued to paint, often aided by a powerful eyeglass, working up close on small canvases. He was reduced to such poverty that the Royal Academy awarded him a pension of £20 per annum. He died in 1893 before drawing the first installment.
Condition: Very good overall condition. Relined and edged with paper-tape. Scattered stable surface craquelure commensurate with age. Slightly visible stretcher bar impressions. Scattered spots of inpainting along the edges, few in and beneath the dog, small area in the lower left corner and a few spots in trees. Difficult to detect further restoration under UV light through the varnish. The antique frame with wear and losses commensurate with age and handling. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed!
- Creator:George Armfield (1808-1893, British)
- Creation Year:1854
- Dimensions:Height: 33 in (83.82 cm)Width: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good overall condition. See description for full condition report.
- Gallery Location:Yardley, PA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2911217312202
George Armfield
George Armfield was a British genre artist specializing in oil paintings of domesticated dogs. Armfeld professed a great love of animals, and his commissions of hounds and horses were in high demand in his lifetime. Preferring to paint hunting dogs over any other popular subject matter, Armfield’s broad, lively brush strokes captured the earthy colors of fur and grasses. Born George Armfield Smith in Wales in 1808, he was the son of portrait painter William Armfield Hobday, from whom he learned his craft. The precocious artist began his career at the young age of 16, when he exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy: It was of Lion, a beloved Newfoundland dog. Today, Armfield’s work is included in the collections of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Glasgow Art Gallery in Glasgow, among many others. Armfield died in Clapham, England in August of 1893.
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