The Artist's Pets

This work was painted shortly after Ansdell became a member of the Royal Academy and yet it was not included in his submissions to the annual exhibition. This suggests that, given the subject-matter, it was painted for his own pleasure rather than for sale. More than any other English artist in the 19th century, Ansdell was considered to be the successor to Sir Edwin Landseer as Britain's foremost animal painter and he knew his subjects very well. His particular strength was in painting sheep-dogs and horses, both of which are present in this work, and shown with characteristic attention to anatomical detail and portraying character without being overly sentimental.