GEORGE WILLIAM HORLOR
Bath c.1820 – 1899 South Stoneham
Ref: CD 211
The huntsman's foxhounds
Signed and dated lower left: G.W. Horlor / 1852
Oil on canvas: 24 x 29 in / 61 x 73.6 cm
Frame size: 32 x 37 in / 81.3 x 95.2 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, UK;
Sotheby’s Sussex, 27th July 1993, lot 262;
Richard Green Gallery, London;
private collection, USA
Exhibited:
London, Richard Green, Annual Exhibition of Sporting Paintings, 1993, no.36, illus. in colour
George William Horlor specialised in animal, hunting and shooting scenes. This study of foxhounds reflects his fine sense of composition, subtle evocation of light and soft brushwork. The hunting coat, riding crop and glove provide a colourful accent and indicate the importance of the huntsman whose every command the loyal hounds would obey.
Horlor was born in Bath c.1820. He was probably related to the landscape and marine painter Joseph Horlor (1809-1887). He began working in Bristol as an animal and landscape artist, marrying Mary Cook there in 1845. By 1851 he had moved to Cheltenham, then to Birmingham around 1853-4 and in 1864 to London. Horlor exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1854 to 1890, the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street from 1854 to 1866 and at the British Institution 1849 to 1866. He spent his final years near Southampton, dying at South Stoneham in 1899.
While living in Cheltenham, Horlor painted Arthur Edwin May, MP, Master of the Cheltenham Stag Hounds, 1852 (Cheltenham Art Gallery). He painted several scenes of Highland shoots made fashionable by Queen Victoria’s love of the Scottish Highlands and the work of Sir Edwin Landseer. They include Collies and a pony, 1892 (Royal Collection, Osborne House).
