Richard Ansdell

"Sleepest or Wakest Thou?" original etching

1868

Richard Ansdell was an English oil painter of animals and lansdcapes. Born in Liverpool in 1815, he displayed a natural talent for art from an early age. After school he studied under a portrait painter in Chatham, Kent. He first exhibited at The Liverpool Academy in 1835 and went on to Study there a year later. By this time Ansdell had invited the interest of a number of wealthy patrons and went on to his first Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 1840 with two paintings, one entitled "Grouse Shooting", and exhibited there every year for the next decade. He also painted in Spain and France and in 1855 at the Paris Exhibition he was awarded the Gold Medal for his works, He became an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1861 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1870. He resided in the Lancashire Borough of Flyde, where the district of Ansdell is named after him, the only English artist to have been honored in this way. Ansdell's work was very sought after in his own lifetime, his desirability has continued and his auction record for a large work is about $910,000 achieved in 2006 at Sotheby's.