Sawrey GILPIN (1733 - 1807, British)

Landscape with Horses and Cattle

c.1780

oil on canvas

19 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches

Sawrey Gilpin was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician in February 1797.

This work echoes the spirit of Romanticism. The horses are individualised by their varied physical appearance and posture. The un-manicured landscape enhances the painting's sense of freedom and wildness.

Sawrey Gilpin was born in Cumbria and trained with his father Captain John Bernard Gilpin, a soldier and amateur landscape painter. In 1749 he moved to London to study with the marine artist Samuel Scott but soon developed a passion for animal painting. Gilpin's talent for portraying horses was recognised by the Duke of Cumberland who commissioned the artist to paint watercolours at his stables in 1758.

During the 1760s Gilpin worked as a drawing master at Cheam School where his brother - the theorist, Reverend William Gilpin - was headmaster. Concurrently, he began to exhibit sporting and animal subjects at the Incorporated Society of Artists. Gilpin did not submit works to the Royal Academy until 1786 but was elected ARA in 1795, becoming a full Academician two years later. He went on to collaborate with other members, including J. M. W. Turner, by adding animals to their landscape paintings. Gilpin benefited from a group of highly supportive patrons. He worked extensively for the eccentric sportsman Colonel Thornton and for the philanthropist Samuel Whitbread, both of whom offered him commissions, hospitality and even accommodation in their homes.

Today, there are works by Gilpin in the collections of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Tate Britain, and the Royal Academy, in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.