Two paintings by the famed canine artist William Henry Hamilton Trood (1860-1899) will be highlights of the ‘Dogs in Show & Field: The Fine Art Sale’ on 15th February 2012 at Bonhams New York.
The first of the works is Hounds in a kennel ($60,000-80,000) and shows a pack of hounds in a kennel. The artist captures the individual characters of the hounds and the composition cleverly draws the viewer in past the robin to the kennel.
Déjeuner ($50,000-70,000) is a sentimental scene of puppies gathered round a bowl, enthusiastically lapping up milk whilst being watched by ducklings, chicks and a cat. Its scale and quality marks it as being one of the finest paintings by the artist to come to auction.
Trood was a consummate painter of animals, particularly known for his canine works. He was born in the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, at a time when the popularity of domestic dogs was increasing rapidly and the fashion for canine paintings was also on the rise. His works proved immensely popular and he exhibited extensively at the Royal Academy, Suffolk Street, the New Watercolour Society and the Grosvenor Gallery.
Sam Travers of Bonhams 19th Century Pictures department comments, “Trood is a treasure in the world of canine art and these two paintings are a perfect illustration of why this is the case. In a time when the genre of dog painting was at its height he was one of its finest exponents.”
The sale also includes works by such artists as Arthur Wardle, Valentine Garland, Percival Rosseau, Cecil Aldin, John Emms and over 30 works by Reuben Ward Binks.
