Richard David Shepherd
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Richard David Shepherd CBE FRSA FGRA (25 April 1931 – 19 September 2017) was a British artist and one of the world's most outspoken conservationists. He was most famous for his paintings of steam locomotives (he owned a number of them) and wildlife, although he also often painted aircraft, portraits (notably The Queen Mother) and landscapes. His work has been extremely popular since the 1960s in limited edition print reproduction and
poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
form, as well as other media such as Wedgwood limited edition plates. He published five books about his art, including an autobiography.


Life and work

David Shepherd was born in
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...
, London, England. As a child he lived in Totteridge, North London and he won a children's painting competition in a magazine called ''Nursery World'' when he was eight years old. He then attended
Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...
in Buckinghamshire. Upon leaving school he travelled to Kenya with the hope of becoming a game warden, but was rejected as having "no talent whatsoever". He returned to the UK but was rejected by the Slade School of Fine Art in London. However, he was taken in by the artist
Robin Goodwin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest ro ...
who trained him for three years. Neal Brown said in '' Frieze'' magazine: "David Shepherd is one of the most financially rewarded painters in the UK... Shepherd has brought pleasure to millions, as seen on the many table mats, posters and commemorative plates that bear his work." David Gower said, "There is a sense of the atmosphere of the African bush that emanates from all his work."


Conservationist

Shepherd became interested in conservation during an early expedition into the African bush, where he discovered a poisoned water hole with 255 dead zebra. He had become an outspoken world-known campaigner, and devoted much of his time to this. He was also a steam railway enthusiast, but said in a letter to the UK's '' The Railway Magazine'', "you can always build another steam loco but you can't build another tiger." One of his best known paintings, ''Tiger in The Sun'', was painted in 1977. His paintings are not only prized by art collectors but have also raised huge sums for conservation. His first major fund-raising success was a work titled ''Tiger Fire'' which raised £127,000 for
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
’s Operation Tiger in 1973. Shephard was also known for his paintings of elephants and among his most well known works were ''The Ivory is Theirs'' and ''Wise Old Elephant''. He was the founder of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and was made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the 1980 New Year Honours list "for services to the conservation of wildlife." He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to charity and wildlife conservation.


Steam enthusiast

Shepherd owned a number of
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s. He bought both 9F ''Black Prince'' 92203 and Class 4MT No.75029 ''The Green Knight'' direct from
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
, where he had connections from painting various scenes for them. No.75029 ''The Green Knight'' was sold to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to finance ''Black Prince''s overhaul, then in 2015 ''Black Prince'' was sold to the North Norfolk Railway. All the African locomotives he acquired were British-built. In South Africa the 15F (Nº 3052), presented to him by Spoornet in 1991, is stored at Sandstone Estates in Ficksburg. It has carried various names, including ''City of Germiston'' and, more recently, his wife's name, ''Avril''. It was moved to Ficksburg in light steam from
Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...
by Friends of the Rail (a Pretoria-based heritage steam association) in April 2003 and it steamed again in April 2006, when Friends of the Rail operated it for several trips between Ficksburg and Kommandonek with Shepherd on board. He also owned two Zambian locomotives from the Mulobezi Railway, given to him by then President Kenneth Kaunda. One is still in the railway museum in Livingstone, Zambia, the other was located on the Sandstone Estates complex in South Africa. Shepherd donated it, along with a coach, to the National Railway Museum in York in the UK, where it is undergoing restoration. Shepherd was involved in founding a heritage steam railway in the UK, the East Somerset Railway, where the signal box at Cranmore Station has become a small gallery displaying his work. He was also president of the "Railway Ramblers".


Personal life and death

Shepherd's parents gave him a
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
cottage, with more than an acre of land, in Frensham, Surrey, next to their own house, to encourage him to get engaged to his future wife Avril. The couple had four daughters and lived in West Sussex. Their daughter Mandy is also a wildlife and military artist. On 20 September 2017 the Surrey-based David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) announced that Shepherd had died, on 19 September, after a 10-week fight in hospital with Parkinson's disease. The charity paid tribute to his devotion to the animals he painted, with chief executive Karen Botha saying, "David’s passion for wildlife and the role of man in its demise infuriated and inspired him. He was dedicated, tenacious and outspoken, a champion of animals and the people who worked to protect them. He will be greatly missed." Julian Birley, chairman of the North Norfolk Railway, said: "It is the end of an era. A great man who will forever be credited as one of this country’s greatest pioneers of railway preservation. And in so doing brought pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people."


References


Further reading

* Describes house formerly owned by Shepherd and his modifications to it. * mentions "dedicated railway artists such as Terence Cuneo or David Shepherd" * Provides a guide of current insurance values for David Shepherd's signed limited edition prints.


External links


David Shepherd
(Guild of Railway artists)
David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for conservation projects and single largest source of works for sale by David Shepherd

David Shepherd, wildlife artist – obituary
at telegraph.co.uk
View the upcoming exhibition at Gladwell & Patterson in January 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, David 1931 births 2017 deaths British artists People educated at Stowe School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Hendon British railway artists British people associated with Heritage Railways British conservationists Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from Parkinson's disease