Bowmans Tavern

Edward Robert Smythe was born in Ipswich, U.K., in 1810 to James Smyth and Sarah Harriet née Skitter. Edward attended the school of Robert Burcham Clamp and had a liking for a military career but his love of art took his fancy. Elected a member of the Ipswich Society of Professional and Amateur Artists in March of 1832 and attended his first meeting on November 18th, where he was probably working under Henry Davy and met many local artist members. In his younger days he had a studio in the Old Shire Hall, Ipswich, where he painted with such artists as Samuel Read, Walter Hagreen, Frederick Russel and Robert Burrows.

Around 1840, Smythe moved to Norwich to study the Norwich School of painting, where he became acquainted with Robert Ladbrooke’s son, Frederick, and is said to have worked with John Sell Cotman but returned to Ipswich some five years later, taking a house in Bramford Road. He married at Ipswich in 1848 — Ellen Bowman of Ipswich — and there, his first child, Edward Robert, was born the following year. In 1851, he lived in Elmswell, Suffolk with his 24-year-old wife, Ellen, and son but later that year moved to 3 Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, where he kept company with his friend Fred Ladbrooke. By 1861, still at Angel Hill, they had more children at Bury St Edmunds: Francis (Frank) Rowland 1852, Ellen Kate 1854 and Mary Emily 1856, their daughter Louisa Jane, died at Angel Hill, Bury St Edmund’s on April 7, 1861, aged three years and seven months. He exhibited at the Suffolk Fine Arts Association at the New Lecture Hall of the Mechanics' Institution, Ipswich, in August 1850, several oil paintings including "Chapel Viaduct, Colne Valley," "A Group of Animals," "A Sketch Ploughing," "Ponies and a Dog" and "A Landscape" and a watercolour "The Ruling Passion strong in Death" and was also a member and exhibitor at the Ipswich Art Club 1886–98. He also exhibited five works at the Royal Academy, including "View in the Colne Valley at Chappel, Essex" and exhibited five works at the British Institution, including "Pony and Boy" and "The Village Blacksmith."

In 1865, Edward was living at 98 Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, and his wife died at 69 Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds in 1879, aged 52. By 1891, he had moved in with his married daughter Ellen Kate, who had married George Robert Chilvers, a tobacco manufacturer, at Burlington Lodge, 30 Burlington Road, Ipswich, where he died on 5 July 1899, aged 88, and was buried in Ipswich cemetery three days later. Five of his paintings were on show at the Centenary exhibition of the Ipswich Art Club in 1974 — a pastel, "Crossing the Stream" and oils "Beach Scene," "Knife Grinders" and "The Squires Son" and a drawing "Gipsies by the Wayside." Over the years, he has regained some of the prestige that he held during his lifetime, and his oil "Woolpit Horse Fair" fetched £39,650 at Bonhams London auction in 2011.

Animal paintings depict the beauty and power of nature in an elegant way that can complement any room. Interacting with animals has long captured the imagination and has been interpreted in diverse artistic media.

Some of the oldest works of art have included animals, such as a cave painting found in Indonesia dating back more than 45,500 years that shows a wild pig in red ocher pigment. Animals have continued to appear in every era and style of art, from realism to Pop art and everything in between.

Some paintings portray animals in their natural habitat, highlighting the majesty of wild creatures roaming the plains, forests and jungles. These paintings often feature deer, tigers, wild mustangs and other wildlife. Others focus on domestic animals such as dogs — pay a visit to the Museum of the Dog if you don’t believe us — as well as cats and how they interact with the world and their owners.

Picking the right animal painting for a room — as well as knowing how to arrange your new wall art — can take time. But, in the end, it will tastefully reflect your interests and passions. While an expansive landscape painting helps open up a small space, hanging a horse painting in a den shows a love for equine culture and can invite interesting conversation.

There is animal art to fit every collection on 1stDibs. Explore a wide selection of animal paintings and animal prints in a range of styles and designs to match any home or office.