Lot Essay
This is one of the few sets of pictures of its type and period to remain intact.
The country depicted is that of the Severn Valley. The Meet shows the stables of Badminton House, seat of the Dukes of Beaufort; The Hounds at Fault shows Troy House which was another Beaufort property (see The View of Troy House with Monmouth in the Distance by Hendrick Dankerts, illustrated in John Harris' article Neglected Views of Britain, Country Life, 11 July 1991, p. 80, fig. 1, which shows the house shortly before it was rebuilt in 1673); and the panoramic river landscape in The Death shows Chepstow and the confluence of the River Wye and the River Severn. While the town shown in Full Cry does not appear to be Chepstow, it is clearly in the same area.
Relatively little is known of Ross who appears to have worked mainly in the West Country. Following in the tradition of Peter Tillemans and Jan Wyck, the artist was obviously particularly influenced by the work of John Wootton. Ross does not seem to have been particularly prolific, although he is, for example, represented in the Mellon Collection (see J. Egerton, British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867 [in the Paul Mellon Collection], 1978, p. 50, no. 53, pl. 19).
Langley Park, ten miles East of Norwich, was bought by George Proctor from the Berney family in 1742. Proctor was a connoisseur and collector but died two years later, when his estates passed to his nephew William Beauchamp, later Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt., who completed one of the most sophisticated of later Palladian mansions, long celebrated for its picture collection.
The country depicted is that of the Severn Valley. The Meet shows the stables of Badminton House, seat of the Dukes of Beaufort; The Hounds at Fault shows Troy House which was another Beaufort property (see The View of Troy House with Monmouth in the Distance by Hendrick Dankerts, illustrated in John Harris' article Neglected Views of Britain, Country Life, 11 July 1991, p. 80, fig. 1, which shows the house shortly before it was rebuilt in 1673); and the panoramic river landscape in The Death shows Chepstow and the confluence of the River Wye and the River Severn. While the town shown in Full Cry does not appear to be Chepstow, it is clearly in the same area.
Relatively little is known of Ross who appears to have worked mainly in the West Country. Following in the tradition of Peter Tillemans and Jan Wyck, the artist was obviously particularly influenced by the work of John Wootton. Ross does not seem to have been particularly prolific, although he is, for example, represented in the Mellon Collection (see J. Egerton, British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867 [in the Paul Mellon Collection], 1978, p. 50, no. 53, pl. 19).
Langley Park, ten miles East of Norwich, was bought by George Proctor from the Berney family in 1742. Proctor was a connoisseur and collector but died two years later, when his estates passed to his nephew William Beauchamp, later Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt., who completed one of the most sophisticated of later Palladian mansions, long celebrated for its picture collection.