A Spaniel with a Woodcock at Sunset

Born the son of an artisan in Liverpool, Ansdell trained at the Liverpool Academy Schools where he was later elected President (1845-46). He moved to West Kensington, London, in 1847, exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1840-1885, where he was elected an Academician in 1870, and at the British Institution from 1846-65. During the course of his career, Ansdell collaborated with several artists including John Phillips with whom he travelled to Spain in 1856, William Powell Frith (see lot 45) and Thomas Creswick. He was extremely successful and counted among his patrons the Earl of Sefton, for whom he painted The Waterloo Cup Coursing Meeting (1840, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery), the Earl of Derby, Earl Spencer and the Marquess of Bute. His settings are often inspired by northern landscapes; he spent a great deal of time in a lodge on Loch Laggan and in 1861 built a large house and studio called Starr Hills outside Lytham. Towards the end of his life he lived at Collingwood Tower, Farnborough, Hampshire, where he died in 1885.

Ansdell painted a wide variety of sporting, animal and romantic narrative subjects. His animal subjects often rival those of his great contemporary, Sir Edwin Landseer, both in the variety of his subject matter and the detailed finish of his paintings. The contents of Ansdell's studio were sold at Christie's, London, 19 & 20 March 1886.