Red Coat Hunting Pictures
Red coat hunting pictures capture the dramatic pageantry of traditional British field sports through painted watercolours, oils and prints.
Red Coat Hunting Pictures
Red coat hunting pictures represent a specialised branch of British sporting art, focusing on hounds, huntsmen and riders in the field. These works range from grand Victorian canvases depicting famous hunts to smaller watercolours and early twentieth-century watercolours created by notable practitioners.
The selections available here span from the nineteenth century through to the mid-twentieth century, capturing scenes from the Quorn and Berkeley hunts. Buyers encounter framed artworks, oil paintings and watercolour paintings that document historic equestrian traditions.
Victorian examples often present detailed narratives of the hunt supper or meet, while later twentieth-century pieces concentrate on full cry and landscape settings. Each piece preserves a distinct era of British sporting heritage through varied artistic interpretations.
Assessing quality
Quality rests primarily on the anatomical accuracy of the horses and hounds, alongside the artist's ability to convey movement and atmosphere in a landscape. Works by recognised sporting artists demonstrate superior draughtsmanship in handling complex groupings of figures and animals.
The condition of the paper or canvas, combined with the presence of an original period frame, influences the standing of a piece. Finer works retain vibrant watercolour pigments and stable oil layers without excessive restoration.
Dogs and horses clearly held opinions, judging by the steadfast expressions captured in these watercolours.
John Arthur Lomax·Basil Nightingale·Charles Faulkner·Charles Clifford Turner·John Sanderson Wells·Charles Johnson Payne Snaffles·Heywood Hardy·George Goodwin Kilburne·Geoffrey Mortimer·Frank Algernon Stewart·Wilfred Bailey
The Red Coat Hunting Pictures Glossary
- Full cry
- A stage in the hunt when the hounds are actively running the scent together in full vocal pursuit. This moment provides traditional sporting artists with dynamic compositions.
- Chromolithograph
- A multicoloured planar printing process used to reproduce original watercolours and paintings. It allowed popular sporting images to reach wider audiences in the early twentieth century.
- Giltwood
- Wood, typically carved timber, treated with gold leaf or gilt paint to form ornate picture frames. These frames frequently accompany nineteenth-century oil paintings.
- Watercolour pigment
- Ground colour mixed with a water-soluble binder, applied to paper. It allows for translucent washes and fine illustrative detail in equestrian scenes.
- Victorian sporting art
- A genre of painting that developed during the nineteenth century, focusing on field sports, horses and hounds. It combined landscape painting with accurate animal portraiture.
Red Coat Hunting Pictures: Frequently Asked Questions
What periods do these hunting pictures cover?
The works span from the nineteenth century through the Victorian era and into the mid-twentieth century, encompassing dates such as nineteen hundred, nineteen ten, nineteen twenty, nineteen forty and nineteen fifty.
This broad chronological range records how artists adapted their techniques and subject matter over several decades of changing artistic tastes.
How were these artworks originally displayed?
Owners typically hung these framed pieces in country houses, libraries and estate drawing rooms to celebrate local packs, huntsmen and personal equestrian interests.
They served as decorative records of notable hunts and celebrated horses, reflecting the social importance of field sports in British culture.
Are these pieces original works or prints?
The selection includes both original oil paintings and watercolour paintings alongside chromolithograph prints. Each listing specifies the exact medium, distinguishing between hand-painted works on canvas and paper-based reproductive prints.
Collectors can identify unique watercolours and oils by examining brushwork and pigment application closely.
What framing comes with these pictures?
Many pieces are housed in period frames made from materials such as giltwood and oak. These frames often match the era of the artwork, ranging from ornate Victorian mouldings to simpler early twentieth-century wooden surrounds.
Original framing complements the visual context of the sporting scene it encloses.