Oil Painting, 'Horse and Donkey', James Ward, early 19th century

An oil painting of a horse and donkey.

Bequeathed by Miss E. Anderson

Bequeathed by Miss E. Anderson, 1893. The painting came in to the museum as part of a bequest of 8 oil paintings. This bequest included one other painting by Ward, (museum number 683-1894) and six paintings by William Clarkson Stanfiled.

Historical significance: James Ward, animal painter and engraver (1769-1859). He first trained in his native London as an engraver under John Raphael Smith (1752-1812) and then with his brother William Ward (1766-1826). James Ward began working in oils in about 1790. These early paintings, depicting rustic scenes with figures, were strongly influenced by Ward's brother in law George Morland (1763-1804). In 1803 Ward saw the Rubens painting Autumn Landscape with a view of Het Steen (London, National Gallery), which had then been recently acquired by Sir George Beaumont. Seeing this painting had a strong effect on Ward and he began to paint scenes influenced by the style of Rubens. The artist also drew from Classical and Old Master works to create an eclectic style of art. In about 1810 Ward began working on portraits of thoroughbred horses. These works led to his being elected to the Royal Academy in 1811. During the 1810s and 1820s Ward also began painting landscapes with brooding overtones that followed the Sublime, an aesthetic then enjoying popularity in England. Although still a successful artist, Ward became increasingly disillusioned with the art world during the 1820s. In 1830 he retired to Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. He continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy following his retirement. In addition to being a prolific engraver, James Ward was regarded as the most important animal painter of his generation in England. His work is characterised by great animation, the sense of movement enforced by vigorous brushwork and strong colours; his compositions are generally set in sweeping landscapes with dramatic skies, a style influenced by Romanticism.

This painting shows a horse lying on the ground. Behind is a donkey standing in front of a barn and facing left. The animals have been placed in the centre foreground of the composition. While bringing the animals closer to the viewer this allows the artist to observe them in finer detail. James Ward was one of the most important animal painters of his generation. In this work the paint has been applied in a very sketchy manner. This thick application of paint conveys the different textures of the animals’ coats and their surrounds. Ward is documented as painting directly on to an absorbing ground laid on to the bare canvas with pigments that he had mixed with turpentine to effectively merge the paint colours in the composition. Ward was fascinated with painting techniques and was particularly interested in trying to emulate that of Rubens. This led to the criticism in 1809 that his “pictures are full of merit; but that merit is much obscured by affectation. He seems to think it more important to paint like Rubens, than to paint like nature…” (See: Ackermann’s Repository of Fine Arts, Supplement Vol.I, 1809, p.490.) Here the painterly quality is perhaps more reminiscent of George Morland.

The type of bucolic scene is indebted to those being created at the time by Ward's brother in law George Morland. It was through exposure to the work of George Morland that Ward became interested in painting. Such scenes were enjoying popularity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Here, Ward focusses almost entirely on the animals and their surroundings, showing a keen perception for observing the behaviour of animals. Such representations of animals would lead Ward to become perhaps the most highly regarded animal painter of his generation.



This painting was bequeathed to the South Kensington Museums by Miss. E. Anderson in 1893 along with another work by James Ward, Cow and Calf (museum number 864-1893). Both paintings show animals resting next to or within a barn. They are of similar dimensions suggesting that they are pendants, conceived as a pair. When the Bequest was made the South Kensington Museums already had five paintings by Ward in its collection. Three of these Pigs and a Donkey (FA.216), and Pigs (FA.217), and Chinese Sow (FA.218) had been given to the museum as part of the John Sheepshanks (1787-1863) collection in 1857. The collection also included Bulls Fighting in front of St. Donats Castle, given to the museum in 1871 by Mr.C.J.Maud Esq. The work of Ward had fallen out of favour in the years following his death. However the interest in collecting the artist's works was growing at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, possibly stimulated by the publication of C. Reginald Grundy’s book James Ward, R. A., His Life and Works in 1909.

References:

Ackermann’s Repository of Fine Arts, Supplement Vol.I, 1809, p.490

The tradition of representing animals in art can be traced back to prehistoric times. However the genre of animal subjects grew in Western art following the Renaissance. This was partly in response to newly discovered species that European explorers brought back from the New World. The growing interest in this subject was also in response to the reappraisal of the Christian interpretation of the relation between humanity and the rest of creation.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries an increasing interest in realism began to appear in the treatment of animal subjects in the work of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). Whilst animals often appear as part of paintings during this period, they were never the focus of an entire composition. Developments in this occurred in the sixteenth-century graphic arts. Perhaps one of the most famous examples is Durer's woodcut of a Rhinoceros (1515). The interest in zoological imagery was further developed by the Swiss naturalist Konrad Gessner's (1515-1565) fundamental publication of the Historia animalium (5 vols, Zurich, 1551-1587). In response to the discovery of the New World Theodor de Bry (1528-1598) published woodcuts of marine organisms and sea monsters in his volume America (c.1590).

This interest in animal imagery that had been explored in the graphic arts of the sixteenth century began to evolve into a genre of painting during the following century. Rubens'(1577-1640) studio in Antwerp was particularly important for the development of animal subjects. In a number of his works, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den (c.1615; National Gallery of Art, Washington), animals become the focal point of the composition. A similar interest in animals can also be seen in the work of Snyders (1579-1657) and Paul de Vos (1591-92 or 1595-1678), both of whom were pupils of Rubens. As the taste for natural realism became increasingly popular, many seventeenth-century artists including Frans Snyders and Jacob Bogdani (1660-1724) began to introduce animal subjects in to still-life paintings.

During the eighteenth century the most significant developments in animal painting took place in France and Great Britain. In the early eighteenth century animals were still included in landscapes, historical scenes, military subjects, sporting scenes, portraits, and still-lifes. However as a separate subject they were considered to have less artistic significance as they were imitative of nature. With its social and sentimental overtones the animal portrait would eventually emerge as a popular sub-genre in Europe and particularly in Britain.

In the eighteenth-century Britain, animal painting enjoyed unrivalled popularity. An increasing number of artists including James Seymour (1702-1752), Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807), and James Ward (1769-1859) specialised in animal subjects during the century. The most significant animal painter of the period was George Stubbs (1724-1806). His works encompassed a wide variety of genres including sporting scenes and portraits as well as animals in violent combat. Towards the end of the century a number of artists were focusing on portraits of breeds of cattle, poultry, pigs and sheep. These works reflected both agricultural improvements and nationalistic concerns during a period of international turmoil.

The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed an increased interest in animal subjects. This was the result of the gradual breakdown of the traditional hierarchy of genres. Many of the themes remained the same as those developed during the eighteenth century. However the nineteenth century saw artists beginning to particularise animals and use a more intense palette.

James Ward, a prolific engraver, was regarded as the greatest animal painter of his generation in England. His vigorous depictions of animals - often horses, dogs or wild animals - in agitated emotional states, set in dramatic landscapes, owed much to the prevailing spirit of Romanticism.

683-1893