Lot Essay
Old Playfellows was painted at the height of Briton Riviere's career and was chosen by the artist to be exhibited at the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition of 1887; he also showed four other works, but it was judged by the critic of the Art Journal to be 'the best'. The painting is representative of the work of Riviere who was at his most impressive when painting animals. His love and knowledge of the subject was based on anatomical study and frequent visits to London Zoo. His paintings of dogs are often humourous and of a sentimental nature.
Old Playfellows recalls the work of Riviere's well-known predecessor Sir Edwin Landseer, who was without doubt an important influence on him. It is reminiscent of Landseer's famous picture The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner (1837, Victoria and Albert Museum) which portrays a poignant scene of canine devotion. The work was highly praised by John Ruskin, who described it as 'one of the most perfect poems or pictures ... which modern times have seen.' Ruskin showed similar enthusiasm for Briton Riviere's work Sympathy (1877, Royal Holloway College) which, like Playfellows, depicts a young girl with her dog; he wrote: 'it is long since I have been so pleased in the Royal Academy as I was by Mr Briton Riviere's Sympathy. The dog is uncaricatured doggedness, divine as Anubis, or the Dog Star; the child entirely childish and lovely ...'
Sympathy, which hung alongside our picture at the Manchester Jubilee exhibition, proved to be extremely popular with the general public and was engraved by Frederick Stackpoole and published by Agnew's. The sentimental subject was a formula that Briton Riviere often repeated and both works demonstrate his ability to capture the touching aspects of canine and human nature, successfully transmitting the feelings of animals to canvas without succumbing to the trap of giving them human expressions. It was works such as these that led the Spectator to describe Riviere as 'the only animal painter in England who has taken the place that was vacated by the death of Landseer.'
Old Playfellows recalls the work of Riviere's well-known predecessor Sir Edwin Landseer, who was without doubt an important influence on him. It is reminiscent of Landseer's famous picture The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner (1837, Victoria and Albert Museum) which portrays a poignant scene of canine devotion. The work was highly praised by John Ruskin, who described it as 'one of the most perfect poems or pictures ... which modern times have seen.' Ruskin showed similar enthusiasm for Briton Riviere's work Sympathy (1877, Royal Holloway College) which, like Playfellows, depicts a young girl with her dog; he wrote: 'it is long since I have been so pleased in the Royal Academy as I was by Mr Briton Riviere's Sympathy. The dog is uncaricatured doggedness, divine as Anubis, or the Dog Star; the child entirely childish and lovely ...'
Sympathy, which hung alongside our picture at the Manchester Jubilee exhibition, proved to be extremely popular with the general public and was engraved by Frederick Stackpoole and published by Agnew's. The sentimental subject was a formula that Briton Riviere often repeated and both works demonstrate his ability to capture the touching aspects of canine and human nature, successfully transmitting the feelings of animals to canvas without succumbing to the trap of giving them human expressions. It was works such as these that led the Spectator to describe Riviere as 'the only animal painter in England who has taken the place that was vacated by the death of Landseer.'