Richard Ansdell (11 May 1815 – 20 April 1885) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

painter of animals and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes.

Life

Ansdell was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

(then in Lancashire), the son of Thomas Griffiths Ansdell, a freeman who worked at the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, and Anne Jackson. His father died young; Richard was educated at

The Liverpool Blue Coat school The Liverpool Blue Coat School is a grammar school in Wavertree, Liverpool, England. It was founded in 1708 by Bryan Blundell and the Reverend Robert Styth as the Liverpool Blue Coat Hospital and was for many years a boys' boarding school befor ...

for orphans. He had a natural talent for art from an early age, and after leaving school worked for a portrait painter in

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, and also spent time as a sign painter in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He first exhibited at the Liverpool Academy in 1835, becoming a student there the following year. His animal and rural subjects proved to be popular and he soon attracted wealthy patrons. His first exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, was in 1840, with two paintings called "Grouse shooting" and "A Galloway farm". This was followed, in 1841 by "The Earl of Sefton and party returning from hunting", in 1842 "The death of Sir

William Lambton Lieutenant-Colonel William Lambton, FRS (c. 1753 – 20 or 26 January 1823) was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer who began a triangulation survey in 1800-1802 that was later called the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. His init ...

at the Battle of

Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters un ...

" (1842; Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston), in 1843 "The Death" and in 1844 "Mary Queen of Scots returning from the chase to Stirling Castle". He went on to exhibit pictures every year at the Academy until 1885 (149 canvases in all).See Walford. In 1846 he exhibited his first picture, "A Drover's Halt" at the British Institution, London, and went on to show 30 canvases there. In June 1841, he married Maria Romer; the couple went on to have 11 children. In 1847 the family left Liverpool to live in Kensington in London. In 1850, Ansdell started collaborating on pictures with

Thomas Creswick Thomas Creswick (5 February 181128 December 1869) was a British landscapist and illustrator, and one of the best-known members of the Birmingham School of landscapists. Biography Creswick was born in Sheffield (at the time it was within Der ...

, who specialised in landscapes (e.g.:"The South Downs", "England's day in the country" etc.). He also worked with

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

("The Keeper's daughter") and

John Phillip John Phillip (19 April 1817–1867) was a Victorian era Scottish painter best known for his portrayals of Spanish life. He started painting these studies after a trip to Spain in 1851. He was nicknamed John 'Spanish' Phillip. Life Born ...

, with whom he travelled to Spain in 1856 and painted a series of Spanish subjects - "The Water Carrier", "The Road to Seville", "The Spanish shepherd" etc. He returned to Spain alone the following year to paint more pictures there. In 1855, Andsell was awarded a gold medal at the

Paris Exhibition Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

for his works, "The Wolf Slyer" and "Taming the Drove". He also won the "Heywood medal" three times for his work at the

Manchester Royal Institution The Royal Manchester Institution (RMI) was an England, English learned society founded on 1 October 1823 at a public meeting held in the Exchange Room by Manchester merchants, local artists and others keen to dispel the image of Manchester as a ...

. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1861 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1870. During part of his career he kept a "summer house" at Lytham St Annes, in the borough of Fylde, where a district, Ansdell, is named after him. He is the only English artist to have been honoured in this way. Ansdell died at "Collingwood Tower" at Frimley, near Farnborough in Hampshire on 20 April 1885. He was buried at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

Works

Ansdell's best known works include ''Stag at Bay'' (1846), ''The Combat'' (1847), and ''Battle of the Standard'' (1848) - depicting the capture of the French flag at Waterloo by Sergeant Ewart of the

Scots Greys The Royal Scots Greys was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The regiment's history began in 167 ...

. Ansdell's subject matter was compared to that of

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

, though critical opinion was that, though popular, his works lacked the latter's emotional impact. His reputation was as a hardworking but occasionally over-proud artist; for instance, he received no royal commissions after refusing to paint

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

's dogs unless they were brought to his studio. Many of his works are under the guardianship of Fylde Borough Council, having been donated to the former Lytham St Annes Corporation in the 1930s. A selection of these paintings is periodically exhibited at the Fylde Gallery above

Booths Booths is a chain of high-end supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It has been described as the "Wait ...

supermarket in Lytham where ''The Herd Lassie'' is on long-term loan. There are further Ansdell paintings hanging in non-public rooms at Fylde Borough Council Town Hall that can be viewed by prior arrangement or on heritage open days in September. In October 2017 a large painting by Ansdell of a

Friesian cow Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Ho ...

was featured on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' and was valued, by art expert

Rupert Maas Rupert Nicholas Maas (born 23 July 1960) is an English painting specialist and gallery owner best known for his appearances on the long-running BBC One series ''Antiques Roadshow'' where he has been a member of the team of experts since 1997. Bi ...

, as being worth between 15,000 and £20,000. The largest public collections of Ansdell's paintings in Britain are in

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

, the Lytham St Annes Art Collection, and Preston's

Harris Museum The Harris Museum is a Grade I-listed building in Preston, Lancashire, England. Founded by Edmund Harris in 1877, it is a local history and fine art museum. History In the 19th century, it became legal to raise money for libraries by local ...

., pages 69-70.

Military Paintings

* ''The Death of Sir William Lambton at Marston Moor'' (1842; Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston) * ''The Fight for the Standard'' (Waterloo) (1848;

Royal Hospital, Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an ...

) * ''The Fight for the Standard'' (Waterloo) (1848;

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. The regiment, through the Royal Scots Greys, is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the British ...

, on loan to Edinburgh Castle) * ''Thomas Brown regaining the Lost Guidon'' (Dettingen) (

Queen's Royal Hussars The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) is a British armoured regiment. It was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Queen's Own Hussars and the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars. The regiment and its antece ...

)

Selected works

File:Ansdell Richard The Gamekeeper.jpg, ''The Gamekeeper'' File:Richard Ansdell — The Fight For The Standard.jpg, ''The Fight for the Standard'', 1847 File:Richard Ansdell - Lytham Sandhills (1853).jpg, ''Lytham Sandhills'', (1853) File:The Hunted Slaves by Richard Ansdell 1861.jpg, '' The Hunted Slaves'', (1861) File:Richard Ansdell - Hawking (1863).jpg, ''Hawking'', 1863 File:Ansdell The Poacher At Bay 1865.png, ''The Poacher At Bay'', (1865) File:Richard Ansdell - Winter Shooting, Hares and Ptarmigan (1869).jpg, Winter Shooting, Hares and Ptarmigan, 1869 File:Richard Ansdell - The Gardeners Daughter.jpg, ''The Gardeners Daughter'' File:Ansdell Caledonian Coursing Meeting.jpg, ''Caledonian Coursing Meeting, near the Castle of Ardrossan'' File:Richard Ansdell - A Spanish Shepherd (1863).jpg, A Spanish Shepherd (1863) File:Richard Ansdell Falcon with a Ptarmigan.jpg, Falcon with a Ptarmigan File:Richard Ansdell - Buzzard with Ptarmigan (1876).jpg, Buzzard with Ptarmigan (1876) File:Richard Ansdell - Collecting the sheep for clipping in the highlands (1881).jpg, Collecting the sheep for clipping in the highlands (1881)

Notes

References

*Walford, Edward.
Representative Men in Literature, Science, and Art: Richard Andsell
' (London: Alfred William Bennett, 1868). * Meynell, Wilfrid.
Some Modern Artists and Their Work
' (Cassell, 1883) pp. 218–24. * *Todd, Arthur & Dibdin, E. R. ''The life of Richard Ansdell, R.A.: with especial reference to his sojourn in Lytham'' (Sherratt & Hughes, 1919). *''Richard Ansdell R.A., 1815–1885, a centenary exhibition'' (Malcolm Innes Gallery, 1985). *Barringer, Tim & Cowling, Mary & MacLeod, D. S. ''Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London'' (Frances Lincoln, 2008)) p. 195. *

Life

Works

Military Paintings

Selected works

Notes

References

External links