Dendrapsis, Winner of the Waterloo Cup

THOMAS BLINKS

1853 - 1910

English School

Dendrapsis, Winner of the Waterloo Cup

Oil on Canvas, signed

35 ¾ x 48 inches

90.7 x 122 cms

One of the most accomplished of the late Victorian dog artists, Thomas Blinks was born in Maidstone on 29 October, 1853. Although he showed artistic talent at an early age, his father was determined he should earn a sensible living, and apprenticed him to a tailor. He soon ran away from the master tailor and sought refuge with his uncle where he was eventually allowed to follow his chosen career.

He exhibited his first painting at the RA in 1883 and concentrated on sporting and animal scenes. He worked mainly in oil and watercolour, and occasionally painted on linen. His pictures are high quality works, frequently full of drama and movement, and are painted with a distinctive and much freer brushstroke than was usual at the time. He preferred to paint sporting dogs - setters and pointers in particular in action on windswept moors, and his portraits of foxhounds, whether in full cry or resting in kennels at the end of a hard day, are amongst the best in Victorian dog portraiture. He also painted a number of high quality coursing scenes. He contributed illustrations to Harding Cox's edition of 'Dogs, by Well-known Authorities' (1906). Many of his works were reproduced as prints and several were engraved by J B Pratt.

Thomas Blinks had one daughter and a son. He died of Bright's Disease in 1910 and was buried at Hendon Park Cemetery.