Miss Kilby’s Spaniel in an interior
Miss Kilby’s Spaniel in an interior
JOHN E FERNELEY
1782-1860
English School
Miss Kilby’s Spaniel in an interior
Oil on canvas laid down, signed and dated 1840
71.5 x 92.5 cm
281/8 x 363/8 ins
Overall framed size 98 x 116.3 cms
385/8 x 453/4 ins
Provenance: Christie’s, London, 26 July 1935, lot 131, as “J. Ferneley”.
Literature: In The Melton Mowbray of John Ferneley published in 1931, which was a transcription of Ferneley’s account books compiled by Guy Paget, in the section devoted to dogs there is the inventory number 491 for 1840 with the description A Spaniel, the name of the commissioner is Miss Kilby and the cost to her of 7 guineas.
John E Ferneley, also known as John Ferneley Snr., was a major animal painter of the first half of the 19th century and Sally Mitchell, in The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists, writes that: “His painting of horses was superb…he had a fine use of colour and his pictures are comparable to Marshall and second only to Stubbs.” M H Grant in the Dictionary of British Landscape Painters states that: “His paintings, clear, active and accurate in every technical detail...are as popular today as they were with their original commissioners, ranking with those of Ben Marshall, J N Sartorius, R B Davis etc, as classic recorders of famous packs and their followers.”
Although primarily a painter of horses and related subjects such as hunt meets, he also depicted dogs, livestock, game birds, still-life, groups of children and formal portraits.
He was the son of a master wheelwright, the youngest of six children and was born on 18th May 1782 in Thrussington in Leicestershire. He worked with his father when young and legend has it that the young aspirant artist using the waggon foreboards, that had been brought in for repair, as the support for painting hunting scenes. There was plenty of opportunity to study hunting scenes in Leicestershire at that time as since the enclosures, almost all of the county had been made over to grassland and hunts took place every day except for Sundays. Ferneley came up with an innovative way of imparting the sense of motion into a hunting scene: he used long rectangular canvases with a narrow height and within this format he could include several events and situations that would occur in a chase and the size format seems to compress the image helping to give a sense of movement. He gave them the name “scurries.”
John Manners, the 5th Duke of Rutland, saw this first scurrie painting, immediately recognised a singular talent, and persuaded Fereneley’s father that this should be encouraged and duly introduced the aspirant artist to the great sporting artist Ben Marshall in order to become apprenticed to him. This training started in 1801 and was to last three years but with the significant cost of £200 levied by Marshall and it is believed that the Duke, apart from his encouragement, also paid for this. Ferneley resided at Marshall’s house throughout his stay in London and also attended the Royal Academy schools.
Upon completion of his training, Ferneley was receiving commissions to paint portraits and he travelled the country, receiving his first important commission which came from the Master of the Quorn, Thomas Assheton Smith who was renowned in the hunting world as “…the straightest man across country that ever rode to hounds.” In 1823 Ferneley painted a huge picture of The Quorn at Quenby which measured 190.5 x 391 cms and is regarded as one of the greatest portrayals of this sport. Assheton Smith was an admirer of the young Ferneley and further encouraged him to develop the depiction of hunting and hounds in landscape settings.
Following a serious illness in 1808 he went to Ireland for the milder climate and worked there for about a year. He exhibited paintings of horses and dogs at Dublin Society’s House in Hawkins Street in 1809 and 1810 and had a beneficial patron in Lord Lismore. He worked in southern Ireland as well as Dublin and consequently there are many hunting and equine paintings by him in Irish country houses.
He returned to Thrussington and married Sarah Kettle of Gaddesby in 1809 but by 1814 he had moved to Elgin Lodge in Melton Mowbray where he had a purpose-built house and studio, remaining there for the rest of his life. The town was perfectly situated for gaining commissions from the local wealthy hunting set as it was surrounded by the Cottesmore, Belvoir and Quorn territories. His list of patrons was long and apart from the Duke of Rutland and Assheton Smith, there was Lord Jersey, Lord Middleton, Lord Gardner, Sir Harry Goodricke, Sir Bellingham Graham, Beau Brummel, the Count d’Orsay, The Earl of Kintire and the Earl of Cadogan. Ferneley had a reputation as an agreeable and intelligent person who despite his humble origins was able to have friendships with people from all social backgrounds and Sunday afternoons at his house was a popular meeting place for many local residents. One of these locals was the portrait painter Sir Francis Grant who was regarded as the pre-eminent portraitist of his day and depicted Queen Victoria on several occasions as well as many aristocrats. He and Ferneley were good friends and helped each other develop their technique: the latter assisted Grant with portraying horses and Grant improved the animal painter with the human form and they worked together on several paintings, one example being Lord Newport and Rowton, a favourite hunter. Ferneley was also a keen sportsman riding to hounds, shooting and fishing as a guest of his titled and wealthy patrons.
Sarah died in 1836 but he had seven children with her three of whom also became artists. Sarah (1811-1903) specialised in still-life and game subjects and her husband, the portrait artist Harry Johnson, painted his father-in-law in 1838 and that picture is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery; John Jnr. (1814-1862) painted similar subjects to his father and in a very close style and Claude Lorraine (1822-1892) who also depicted equestrian and hunting subjects. Claude was named after his godfather Charles Lorraine Smith, the renowned patron of sporting painters, talented amateur artist, poet, violinist and Member of Parliament who was known as the “Squire of Enderby.” Claude would accompany his father on his painting commissions and aged ten would play the piano for the parties of gentry. He also assisted his father in organising the construction of a new organ in their local church at Melton and was the first to play it after its installation.
John E Ferneley’s renown was enhanced by the engraving of some of his hunting paintings and between 1831 and 1844 Ackermann published a series of racehorse portraits. He also contributed subjects to The Sporting Magazine. Throughout his successful career, during which most of his work came from direct commissions, he also exhibited twenty-two at the Royal Academy, four at the British Institution (when he was living for a time at 20, St Petersburg Place, Bayswater and all of which were on a large scale as the smallest measured four feet two by six feet four in its frame and the largest was eight feet four by seven feet nine) and thirteen at the Royal Society of British Artists.
In 1838 he married Anne Allen and had a son, Charles with her in 1844. Charles became a notable pioneer in photography. Anne died in 1854 and Ferneley’s daughter Sarah, who was herself now a widow, returned to Melton to live with her father and care for him. In 1860, aged seventy-eight, he was on the return journey from painting a picture and caught a chill from which he never recovered and he died on 3rd June 1860. What is interesting also about Ferneley is that he was assiduous and meticulous in recording all his paintings and commissions from 1807-1860 and the price for each work is noted alongside the description. It is somewhat surprising that after all his success he left under £300 in his will. He was buried in Thrussington and John Fereneley College in Melton Mowbray is named in his memory.
Some examples of exhibited paintings and others in collections include: Portraits of the well-known race horse Glenartney and his jockey, George Edwards, painted for the Earl of Jersey; Portrait of a famous setter; Greyhound; Huntsmen and dogs; Breaking Cover – Portraits of the Gentlemen of the Sedgefield Hunt; The Meeting of Sir B Graham’s Hounds, with Portraits of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Melton Hunt; A groupe: containing the portraits of horses, grooms and harriers, belonging to J Morant; A Groupe of children, poney and Ass; Card players; Purchasing the Christmas Dinner; L Smith, Junr., Esq.; Interior of a Scotch larder. Lord Rossmore with his brother the Hon. Jack Westenra shooting at Glendyke; Landscape, Cows and Sheep; A fox and a Mallard; The MacKenzie Ross Ayreshire Bull; Turkey and a Cockerel in a Farmyard at Twilight; Sheep and Shepherd.
Museums and institutions which hold examples of his work include: Tate Britain (4); National Maritime Museum (Portrait of Lt. Henry Fortescue); British Museum; Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Fitzwilliam Museum; Leicestershire County Council Museum Service (9 including The Opening of the Leicester and Swannington Railway; the Arrival of the First Train at Bagworth 17th July 1832, The Ferneley Family Pew in Melton Mowbray Parish Church, Leics and Portrait of the Artist and his Family in his Studio1822-3 ); Brent Museum; Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; Usher Gallery; Worthing Museum; Brooke Robinson Museum; Weston Park; Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry Museum; 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards Heritage Museum; National Trust: Calke Abbey (8), Anglesey Abbey, Sizergh Castle, Melford Hall, Nunnington House, Shugsbrough Hall, Lyme Park; National Trust for Scotland: Mar Lodge Estate, Culzean Castle; Burghley House; Yale Center for British Art (8 including The Reverend and Mrs Henry Palmer with their six children at Withcote Hall, nr. Oakham, Leics); The Huntington, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Bibliography: Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists- Sally Mitchell
Dictionary of British Landscape Painters - M H Grant
Dictionary of Victorian Painters - Christopher Wood
Dog Painting; The European Breeds – William Secord
British Sporting Painting 1650-1850 – Hayward Gallery 1975
Dictionary of British Animal Painters – J C Wood
Dictionary of Irish Artists – Walter G Strickland
Dictionary of British Animal Painters – J C Wood
British Sporting Art Trust
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