A sporting still life

R G BROWN 

19^th century

English School  

A sporting still life   

Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1850, in bird’s eye maple veneer frame

82.7 x 56.3 cms

325/8 x 22718 inches

Overall framed size 92.1 x 66.4 cms

                                 35¾ x 261/8 ins

A 19^th century painter of dogs, cattle, horses, dead game still life, portraits and landscapes, R G Brown’s work is quite rare and little is known of his life. He was operating in the mid-19^th century and is believed to have come from Lancaster as the museum there has works by him in its collection, including a self-portrait dated 1855 and the Museum of Lancashire holds another.

He exhibited one painting at the Royal Academy in 1844 which was a still life and there is also an example of a still life of an angler’s catch of fish. Some other recorded examples include: Three Hunters at a paddock gate; Two pointers at work; Pointers in a courtyard with their master (1859); Foxhounds (1850) and a charming portrait of a man in a landscape Old Sandy, trainer to Alexander and Graham, two greyhounds. The Lancaster Maritime Museum holds three paintings by him and apart from the aforementioned self-portrait, also has Two horses belonging to John Armstrong (1845) and Horse and dog in a stable

Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists – Sally Mitchell 

Dictionary of Victorian Painters – Christopher Wood

Dictionary of British Animal Painters – J C Wood

Dog Painting; The European Breeds – William Secord

Dictionary of British Bird Painters – Frank Lewis