About this lot

Description

Edmund Bristow (British, 1787–1876) Study of Fox, an English Springer Spaniel in a landscape signed lower right "E Bristow" oil on canvas, unframed 25 x 30cm (10 x 12in)
Edmund Bristow was sporting and horse painter to William IV, and had an instinctive talent and empathy for painting horses and dogs. Reclusive by nature, Bristow disliked patronage so much that he would often refuse to sell his pictures. The present painting of a black and white setter shows perfectly his abilities. A full length study of Fox by Edmund Bristow was sold in these Rooms, Thursday, 24 September 2009, Lot 848 (£9000).
The artist has re-used an old canvas - unframed. G Rowney and Co., London, canvas makers. Dog examined at Cheffins office Oil on canvas which is unlined. The painting has an unusual surface and it seems likely that the artist has reused a canvas which probably had a seascape painted on to it (there are textured brushstrokes in the lower half with a horizon line and smudges of bright blue paint at the edges of the canvas which does not appear in the composition above). The first painting had suffered from flaking and loss, the texture of the upper painting shows these losses, but the artist has painted over them. The brushstrokes of the upper painting consistently cover the losses and there is no evidence that these are later retouchings. There is one area of later overpaint which shows up dark in ultraviolet light. The varnish is thin and uneven, it is thicker in the brushwork which covers the textured seascape below.

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