A Coach and Four in a Landscape and A Coach and Four Crossing a Ford

The son of the artist, Dean Wolstenholme, this artist was born at Waltham Abbey, Essex in 1798. At the age of 14 he was badly bitten when a horse took a piece out of his cheek.

Wolstenholme studied engraving as a young man. He painted in a style almost identical to his father although his subject matter included genre works which were sometimes engraved as were a few of his hunting scenes.

Some of his best pictures were of brewery horses including "Black Eagle Brewery" (RA1822). "A View of the Hour Glass Brewery" and "Messrs. Barclay Perkins & Co's Brewery, Park Street, Southwark" all of which he subsequently engraved.

In addition to his horse paintings, Wolstenholme painted sporting scenes as well as dogs and other animals. He also painted a series of pictures of prize birds and a number were engraved life-size (14 are in the Print Room of the British Museum). He was particularly skilled at capturing the metallic sheen of their plumage.

Wolstenholme invented a form of colour printing later patented by Leighton Brothers.

The last 20 years of his life were spent at Highgate and the surrounding countryside provided much inspiration for his work during these years. Father and son's work is very hard to distinguish although the latter's depiction of horses is freer and his paintings are generally brighter and more alive than those of his father.

He exhibited thirteen times at the Royal Academy from 1818-19 and ten at the British Institute and Royal Society of British Artists at Suffolk Street.

Bibliography

Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists - Sally Mitchell
A Dictionary of British Landscape Painters - Col M H Grant
The Dictionary of Victorian Artists - Christopher Wood