Oil painting, 'Bulls Fighting, with a View of Donatt's Castle, Glamorganshire', James Ward, 1803

Signed "J Ward" on the back.

Given by Charles T. Maud

Given by Charles T. Maud, 1871
Taken from 'Somersetshire parishes; a handbook of historical reference to all places in the county'.
'Bathampton
Charles Theobald Maud of the Manor House, farmer, horse-breeder, and collector of pictures. Left Harrow 1808-9. Bal. Col. Oxf. BA 1818.'

Maud was also the cousin of W J Broderip, the eminent naturalist, who owned William Holman Hunt's 'The Hireling Shepherd' (City of Manchester Art Galleries). Maud originally commissioned a replica of the sheep in the background of this work, but Hunt persuaded him to commission a new piece, 'Our English Coasts (Strayed Sheep)' (Tate Britain).

Exhibited at the British Institution, 1817, no.12 'Bulls Fighting' (5ft 6" x 8ft 9").

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.

James Ward specialised in animal paintings. He based this work on a landscape by Rubens. The President of the Royal Academy considered that its 'perfection of execution' made Rubens seem 'gross and vulgar'. Constable, however, saw it as proof that a 'production made upon a picture' is inferior to one 'founded on original observation'.

220-1871