拍品专文
Walter Winans (1852-1920), seen here shooting in the khaki suit at the 'running deer' to the left of our picture, was an American millionaire and one of the finest shots of his generation. The son of American and British parents, he was born in Russia where his father and uncle had been sent by his grandfather to construct the vast Russian railway network, source of the family fortune. He is portrayed shooting at a moving target on the range established for this purpose at Wimbledon Common. The first iron deer on the range was lent by a Mr Lancaster in 1862 and propelled down a course laid down by Captain Gooch of the Great Western Railway, although by the time this picture was painted the range had become considerably more sophisticated. (In 1863 for instance it was mooted that the deer should be designed by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A.).
Winans skill at shooting galloping deer was unsurpassed. He broke all existing world records and indeed won an Olympic gold medal for shooting at the Running Deer. On his Highland estates it was reputed that he frequently killed stags galloping at 200 yards, whereas most stalkers found shooting at a stationary deer from a distance of 100 yards a sufficient challenge. As Winans himself wrote 'Few men who go stalking have ever killed a deer moving, even at a walk, while fewer still are those who can kill at right and left when the stags are running past at the speed of a racehorse and bounding into the air.'
In order to satiate his sporting appetites and demonstrate his considerable skill to his guests Winans indulged in deer driving. The practise was deplored by many of his contemporaries as a sporting solecism as they perceived it reduced creatures whose nobility had been celebrated by Landseer in pictures such as the The Monarch of the Glen to the status of game. Winans however defended himself vigorously claiming the term 'to be an unfortunate combination of words to describe moving deer towards shooters. It has led to the 'driving deer into a narrow place where they have no escape' style of abusing those who indulge in this form of sport. If the writers of such nonsense themselves tried to drive deer, they would find how impossible it is. Deer will not be driven; if they think they are being forced, they will break back, however thick the beaters are ... instead of being called deer driving it ought to be called (coining a word in the German manner) deceiving-the-deer-into-going-where-you-want-them-to.'
In order to stalk five or six days in succession, and shoot at running deer, it became necessary to drive them over ground so vast that they could not be driven off it. In the 1880s Winans hence owned more sporting rights over Scotland than any other tenant. His rented estates stretched from sea to sea, covering more than 200,000 acres including the forests of Craskie, Fasnakyle, Glen Cannich, Glenstrathfarrar, Glomach, Killilan, Luibnadamph, and Patt and Kintail. His rent was said to be £20,000 per annum, while his expenses amounted to £10,000 as he employed a huge army of ghillies.
He was obsessed with his sport, writing several books on the subject, and also painting pictures of his quarry which were widely praised. 'We have never seen more truly inspiring shooting pictures' said the 'Shooting Times' of one collection. 'One breathes the mountain air... and Mr Winans must be congratulated for the striking lifelike scenes he has created. 'They're Away' is simply marvellously good - a remark which fully applies to 'A Running Shot', possibly the best illustration of deer we have ever seen'. His publications included 'The Art of Revolver Shooting' (1901 and 1911), 'The Sporting Rifle', (1908), as well as smaller works on Automatic Pistol Shooting, Practical Rifle Shooting, Shooting for Ladies, and his magnum opus 'The Modern Pistol and how to shoot it' (1919). These books were extrordinarily forward thinking in the techniques they advocated; the two handed grip for pistol shooters, and the essential abiltity to 'shoot slow' before learning to shoot fast. Winans also campaigned for the use of bigger sights, and the need for action type shooting, useful in preparation for a war, but advice that went unheeded in the years leading up to the First World War. Used, through his wealth, to competing and being entertained in the highest circles, he was decorated Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, Commander of the Royal Roumanian Order of the Crown, and Chevalier of the Imperial Order of St Stanislaus of Russia by the Tsar. For five years he was revolver Champion of the National Rifle Association and became a Vice President of the National Rifle Association of Great Britain. For many years he lived at Elcho Lodge, Bisley Camp, (named after the donor of the Elcho Shield), from which, ever a patriotic American, he flew the star spangled banner during annual meetings.
Winans was a keen admirer of Thomas Blinks's work, as is seen by a letter he wrote to the Daily Mail of 20th March 1911. 'The late Thomas Blinks, for instance, was the best painter of a hound and one of the best painters of a horse in action that have ever existed. I bought some 40 of his pictures during his lifetime, and I sold one, getting three times what I paid for it, and now that he is dead, of course, their value has greatly increased. It is obvious nobody seems to appreciate good painting till someone else has bought it'.
The painting hung for many years in the Dining Room of the clubhouse of the Surrey Rifle Association at Bisley Camp. It was presented to the Surrey Rifle Association by C G B Poulter who was a Territorial Soldier before and after the second world war and shot with the Surrey. He rescued the painting from a second hand furniture shop in Camberley.
Winans skill at shooting galloping deer was unsurpassed. He broke all existing world records and indeed won an Olympic gold medal for shooting at the Running Deer. On his Highland estates it was reputed that he frequently killed stags galloping at 200 yards, whereas most stalkers found shooting at a stationary deer from a distance of 100 yards a sufficient challenge. As Winans himself wrote 'Few men who go stalking have ever killed a deer moving, even at a walk, while fewer still are those who can kill at right and left when the stags are running past at the speed of a racehorse and bounding into the air.'
In order to satiate his sporting appetites and demonstrate his considerable skill to his guests Winans indulged in deer driving. The practise was deplored by many of his contemporaries as a sporting solecism as they perceived it reduced creatures whose nobility had been celebrated by Landseer in pictures such as the The Monarch of the Glen to the status of game. Winans however defended himself vigorously claiming the term 'to be an unfortunate combination of words to describe moving deer towards shooters. It has led to the 'driving deer into a narrow place where they have no escape' style of abusing those who indulge in this form of sport. If the writers of such nonsense themselves tried to drive deer, they would find how impossible it is. Deer will not be driven; if they think they are being forced, they will break back, however thick the beaters are ... instead of being called deer driving it ought to be called (coining a word in the German manner) deceiving-the-deer-into-going-where-you-want-them-to.'
In order to stalk five or six days in succession, and shoot at running deer, it became necessary to drive them over ground so vast that they could not be driven off it. In the 1880s Winans hence owned more sporting rights over Scotland than any other tenant. His rented estates stretched from sea to sea, covering more than 200,000 acres including the forests of Craskie, Fasnakyle, Glen Cannich, Glenstrathfarrar, Glomach, Killilan, Luibnadamph, and Patt and Kintail. His rent was said to be £20,000 per annum, while his expenses amounted to £10,000 as he employed a huge army of ghillies.
He was obsessed with his sport, writing several books on the subject, and also painting pictures of his quarry which were widely praised. 'We have never seen more truly inspiring shooting pictures' said the 'Shooting Times' of one collection. 'One breathes the mountain air... and Mr Winans must be congratulated for the striking lifelike scenes he has created. 'They're Away' is simply marvellously good - a remark which fully applies to 'A Running Shot', possibly the best illustration of deer we have ever seen'. His publications included 'The Art of Revolver Shooting' (1901 and 1911), 'The Sporting Rifle', (1908), as well as smaller works on Automatic Pistol Shooting, Practical Rifle Shooting, Shooting for Ladies, and his magnum opus 'The Modern Pistol and how to shoot it' (1919). These books were extrordinarily forward thinking in the techniques they advocated; the two handed grip for pistol shooters, and the essential abiltity to 'shoot slow' before learning to shoot fast. Winans also campaigned for the use of bigger sights, and the need for action type shooting, useful in preparation for a war, but advice that went unheeded in the years leading up to the First World War. Used, through his wealth, to competing and being entertained in the highest circles, he was decorated Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, Commander of the Royal Roumanian Order of the Crown, and Chevalier of the Imperial Order of St Stanislaus of Russia by the Tsar. For five years he was revolver Champion of the National Rifle Association and became a Vice President of the National Rifle Association of Great Britain. For many years he lived at Elcho Lodge, Bisley Camp, (named after the donor of the Elcho Shield), from which, ever a patriotic American, he flew the star spangled banner during annual meetings.
Winans was a keen admirer of Thomas Blinks's work, as is seen by a letter he wrote to the Daily Mail of 20th March 1911. 'The late Thomas Blinks, for instance, was the best painter of a hound and one of the best painters of a horse in action that have ever existed. I bought some 40 of his pictures during his lifetime, and I sold one, getting three times what I paid for it, and now that he is dead, of course, their value has greatly increased. It is obvious nobody seems to appreciate good painting till someone else has bought it'.
The painting hung for many years in the Dining Room of the clubhouse of the Surrey Rifle Association at Bisley Camp. It was presented to the Surrey Rifle Association by C G B Poulter who was a Territorial Soldier before and after the second world war and shot with the Surrey. He rescued the painting from a second hand furniture shop in Camberley.