John Barker

Highland Sheep, Scotland

mid-19th Century

An oil on panel signed and dated in the lower left depicting two riders on horseback sharing a drink outside a country inn. The painting measures 17.75" x 21.75" including the frame. Provenance: Private collection CT Bradbury Art and Antiques, Wiscasset, ME Heywood Hardy (25 November 1842 – 20 January 1933) was a British artist, in particular an animal painter and painter of horse riding scenes. He also painted landscapes and portraits, especially equestrian portraits. Horses and horse riding were the subjects of much of Hardy’s later work. His pictures of horse riding by the seashore...

Oil on panel, signed and dated 1894 in the lower left and inscribed on the reverse. The frame measures 15.25" x 19.25". Leader was born in Worcester as Benjamin Leader Williams, the son, and first child of eleven children, of notable civil engineer Edward Leader Williams (1802–79) and Sarah Whiting (1801–88). His father was described as a "non conformist dissenter" and his mother was a Quaker – their marriage in an Anglican church resulted in them being disowned by the Society of friends. Leader's father was a keen amateur artist – a friend of John Constable – and Benjamin would often accompany him on sketching trips along the banks of the River Severn. His brother, also Edward Leader Williams, later became a notable civil engineer who was knighted for his work, and is now mainly remembered for designing Manchester ship canal...

Oil on canvas, signed lower left. Measures 32.25" x 37.5" including the frame. Know for his paintings of scenes in the highlands of Scotland, John Barker, British 1811 to 1886.

Charles Jones British, (1836-1892) Sheep Resting Oil on canvas, signed with monogram & dated 1877, further inscribed verso Image size: 35 inches x 59 inches Size including frame: 47 inches x 71 inches Exhibition Size Painting A fantastic exhibition sized landscape painting of sheep on a cliff top by the coast by Charles ‘Sheep’ Jones. At the time he produced this painting, Jones was living at Heathercroft, Balham Hill in London. Given the size and quality of the work it was most likely an exhibition piece. The topography and landscape suggest that this is the Dorset coast, one of his favourite places to paint. Charles Jones was an animal painter who was born in Stepney, London in 1836. He was the son of the artist Samuel John Egbert Jones (1797-1861) and Dinah Jones. He lived with his parents and 9 siblings in Mile End and was a pupil of his father. In September 1859, he married Frances Rosalinda Downe, who was born in America. His son Arthur Bertram Loud (1863-1930) also became an artist. They lived at 12 Hayes Place, Lisson Grove from where he made his debut in London at the Royal Academy in 1861. He also exhibited at the British Institution, Suffolk Street, New Watercolour Society, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. By 1867, he had become a successful artist and they had moved to 7 Paragon Place, Brixton Hill. From 1874 he lived at Heathercroft, Balham Hill where he spent the rest of his life. Jones became well known for specialising in paintings of sheep, cattle and deer in landscape settings. He spent his time travelling around visiting areas such as Devon, Dorset, Kent, Sussex and the Highlands. However, it is for his skilful painting of sheep that he is perhaps best known, and for which earned him the nickname of ‘Sheep’ Jones. As well as the major London galleries, he also exhibited provincially at various locations including: the Royal Cambrian Academy where he was elected a member in 1886, the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Manchester City Art Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Birmingham and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Some of the smaller more intimate galleries he exhibited at were Arthur Tooth & Sons and Thomas...