Maud Earl Rare Portfolio of 21 Prints
British Hounds and Gun Dogs

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Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs
Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs
Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs
Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs
Maud Earl British Hounds and Gun Dogs
Maud Earl (1863-1943) (after)
British Hounds and Gun-Dogs
The Berlin Photographic Company, London: 1902
Charles Whittingham and Co., Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London/ Chiswick Press (text printers)
Folio, loose as issued in green cloth portfolio covers
Limited Numbered Edition 15/500
Comprising 21 of 24 photogravure plates, loose as issued
9.25 x 12.5 inches, image
11.5 x 14 inches, plate mark
17.25 x 22 inches, overall prints
23 x 18 inches, overall covers
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Folio of prints of hunting and hound dogs after original paintings by the Victorian artist Maud Earl.  The dogs’ heads are depicted in an informal sketchbook style, in profile and frontal positions, printed on chine appliqué, with large margins.  The folio, now quite rare, was produced in a limited edition of 500; this one is numbered 15 and signed by the artist.

Titles of prints, 21 of 24 present, lacking plates 2, 5, 24:

  1. Bloodhounds.  “Detectives.”  “Panter” and “Champion Wandle Welcome.”
  2. Otterhounds.  “Two Heads are better than one.”  The Dumfriesshire Otterhounds –“Spartan” and “Safety.” (lacking)
  3. Staghounds.  “Most Potent, Grave, and Reverend Seigniors.”  The Surrey Staghounds.
  4. Foxhounds.  “A Burning Scent.”  The Rufford Foxhounds—“Spartan,” “Twister,” “Grappler.”
  5. Welsh Foxhounds.  “Ancient Britons.”  “Trailer,” “Warrior,” “Grafter.” (lacking)
  6. Harriers.  “Ladies of the Chorus.”  The Clumber Harriers—“Lively,” “Desperate,” “Dora.”
  7. Beagles.  “Puzzling it out.”  The Thorpe Satchville Beagles—“Delicate” and “Cruiser.”
  8. Scotch Deerhound.  “Calling Shapes and beckoning Shadows.”  “Champion Rufford Ben d’Or.”
  9. Greyhounds.  “In the Slips.”  “Fabulous Fortune” and “Fearless Footsteps.”
  10. Pointers.  “Day-dreams.”  “Champion Seabreeze” and “Seashore.”
  11. Black Pointers.  “Black but Comely.”  “Lorne” and “Kate.”
  12. English Setters.  “Marbled Beauties.”  “Compton Damsel” and “Compton Dinah.”
  13. Gordon Setters.  “Gordon Highlanders.”  “Heather countess” and “Heather Ronald.”
  14. Irish Setters.  “Better than Rubies.”  “Barton Punch” and “Killenane.”
  15. Flat-Coated Retriever.  “The Maister of the Game.”  “Champion Wimpole Peter.”
  16. Flat-Coated Retriever.  “A Maid of all Work.”  Champion “Bring ‘Em.”
  17. Curly-Coated Retriever.  “Serving the Guns.”  “Preston Rattler.”
  18. Irish Water-Spaniel.  “The Celtic Fringe.”  “Donna.”
  19. Clumber Spaniels.  “Surely, surely, Slumber is more sweet than Toil.”  “Champion Rose of Hardwick” and “Brave of Hardwick.”
  20. Clumber Spaniels.  “Foresters.”  “Champion Rose of Hardwick” and “Brave of Hardwick.”
  21. Sussex Spaniels.  “High Feather.”  “Polytechnic” and “Carry One.”
  22. Field Spaniel.  “A Special Carrier.”  “Compton Frisk.”
  23. Welsh Spaniels.  “Red Rovers.”  “Corrin of Gerwn,” “Mena of Gerwn,” “Brush of Gerwn,” “Dash of Gerwn,” and “Belle of Gerwn.”
  24. Cocker Spaniels.  “Skirmishers.”  “Champion Sandy Obo,” “Champion Ted Obo,” and “Madge Obo.” (lacking) 

Maud Earl was a painter of animal subjects, perhaps the pre-eminent British painter of dogs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Her work was the subject of a 2004 exhibition at the Kennel Club Art Gallery in the U.K., which deemed her “one of the most important canine artists Britain has produced.”   

Earl came from a family of sporting painters that included her uncle, Thomas Earl, and half-brother Percy, as well as her father George Earl, a successful sporting artist who taught her drawing and anatomy.  She first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884.  Her first solo exhibition in 1897 at the Graves Gallery, Pall Mall, London, included a portrait of two famous Irish Setters, and as her reputation grew, she made commissioned portraits of dogs belonging to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.  Major breeders also engaged her to depict their dogs, and her works were included in a number of books, including The Pointer and his Predecessors by William Arkwright, Memories by John Galsworthy, and The Power of the Dog by A. Croxton Smith.   

Earl emigrated to America in 1916, maintaining a studio in New York City until she died.  There she branched out into painting exotic birds as well as dogs, and experimented with different styles, including one she called “Orientalist,” influenced by Asian art.  In addition to the British Kennel Club, her works are in the collection of the American Kennel Club and museum collections, and remain popular subjects for poster reproductions.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.  France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 3, p. 473. 

“Temporary Exhibition: Maud Earl, Her Life and Works.”  The Kennel Club.  2004.  http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/gallery/past_exhibition1.shtml (12 November 2004).