Sawrey Gilpin

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Portrait of Gilpin (engraving by William Daniell after George Dance)

Sawrey Gilpin

RA (30 October 1733 – 8 March 1807) was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician.[1]

Life and work

Houyhnhnms

Gilpin was born in

William Gilpin, a clergyman and schoolmaster who wrote of several influential works on picturesque scenery.[1]

As a child Gilpin learnt to draw from his father, who ran a drawing school in Carlisle. Having shown an early predilection for art, he was sent to London at the age of fourteen to study under the marine painter Samuel Scott in Covent Garden. Gilpin, however, preferred sketching the passing market carts and horses, and it soon became evident that animals, especially horses, were his speciality. Gilpin left Scott in 1758, and devoted himself to animal painting from then on. Some of his sketches were shown to the Duke of Cumberland, who was much impressed by them, and employed Gilpin to draw from his stud at Newmarket and at Windsor, where he was ranger of the Great Park. He afforded the artist considerable material assistance in his profession.[1]

Animal painter

English Springer Spaniel on a cushion, 1807

Gilpin lived at

John Zoffany, and Philip Reinagle.[1]

Gilpin first exhibited with the

Incorporated Society of Artists in 1762, and continued to show pictures there, mostly of horses, up to 1783. In 1768, and 1770-1, he exhibited a series of pictures illustrating "Gulliver's visit to the Houyhnhnms", one of which was engraved in mezzotint by Valentine Green; in 1770 a drawing of "Darius gaining the Persian Empire by the neighing of his horse"; in 1771 "The Duke of Cumberland visiting his stud (with a view of Windsor Castle from the Great Park, by William Marlow)". In 1773 he became a director of the society, and in 1774 president.[1]

He exhibited at the

Royal Academy, London from 1786 until his death. He was elected an associate of the academy (ARA) in 1795, and Royal Academician (RA) in 1797.[1]

Gilpin married Elizabeth Broom; their son

landscape gardener. After his wife's death Gilpin lived in Bedfordshire with his friend Samuel Whitbread. He then returned to London and spent his last years with his daughters at Brompton, where he died on 8 March 1807.[1]

His pupils included John Warwick Smith and George Garrard. The latter married his eldest daughter Matilda.[2]

Works

Many of his pictures of horses, dogs, and sporting scenes were engraved, notably The Death of the Fox (Royal Academy, 1788), engraved by

National Portrait Gallery.[3]

There are works by Gilpin in the collections of the

Royal Academy,[6] in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum,[7] Cambridge
.

Gallery

  • Three Hunters in a Rocky Landscape
    Three Hunters in a Rocky Landscape
  • A painting of Pitch owned by Colonel Thomas Thornton, 1790
    A painting of Pitch owned by Colonel Thomas Thornton, 1790
  • Gulliver Taking His Final Leave of the Land of the Houyhnhnms
    Gulliver Taking His Final Leave of the Land of the Houyhnhnms
  • Furiband with his Owner, Sir Harry Harpur, and a Groom (1774)
    Furiband with his Owner, Sir Harry Harpur, and a Groom (1774)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1890). "Gilpin, Sawrey" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 382–3.
  2. ^ Biography of Sawrey Gilpin (Christies - 30 Aug 2010).
  3. ^ Portrait of Gilpin (by George Dance).
  4. ^ "Works by Sawrey Gilpin in Courtauld Institute collection".
  5. ^ "Tate Collection, works by Sawrey Gilpin".
  6. ^ "RA Collections, Sawrey Gilpin".
  7. ^ "Fitzwilliam Museum, works by Sawrey Gilpin". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sawrey Gilpin.
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