拍品專文
Charles Towne painted several views of bull dogs with badgers, including A pair of bull dogs chasing a badger with a servant in the far distance, engraved by Richard Earldom in 1806 and published by Robert Laurie and James Whittle of Fleet Street in 1807. In the present work the servant is not only shown in greater detail but is also black. It seems plausible that it may be a specific portrait, and is of particular interest in the context of Towne being based in Liverpool, where there was a large black community at the time.
Charles Towne's first exhibited picture was at an exhibition arranged by the Society for Promoting the Arts of Painting and Design, the forerunner of the Liverpool Academy in 1786. He returned to Liverpool after a period in London exhibiting at the Royal Academy between 1799-1812, becoming Vice President of the Liverpool Academy in 1812 and 1813. His reputation was as a particularly fine animal and sporting artist, whose attention to detail was as much admired by contemporaries as it is today. His paintings of bull terriers provide an accurate record of how the breed has changed since the 19th century. William Secord has noted that the early bull terrier 'was much leggier than the animal we know today and its head more closely resembled the early bulldog' (W. Secord, Dog Painting 1840-1940; a social history of the dog in art, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1992, p.79).
Charles Towne's first exhibited picture was at an exhibition arranged by the Society for Promoting the Arts of Painting and Design, the forerunner of the Liverpool Academy in 1786. He returned to Liverpool after a period in London exhibiting at the Royal Academy between 1799-1812, becoming Vice President of the Liverpool Academy in 1812 and 1813. His reputation was as a particularly fine animal and sporting artist, whose attention to detail was as much admired by contemporaries as it is today. His paintings of bull terriers provide an accurate record of how the breed has changed since the 19th century. William Secord has noted that the early bull terrier 'was much leggier than the animal we know today and its head more closely resembled the early bulldog' (W. Secord, Dog Painting 1840-1940; a social history of the dog in art, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1992, p.79).