Bounty at Bonhams
The tradition of Bonhams Dog Sales goes back to the 1980s, when they were held at their Knightsbridge saleroom in London.
Over time the venue has changed, first to New York and for the last three years at their saleroom in Edinburgh, Scotland. To appeal to a stronger market, both the London and New York sales were held to coincide with Crufts and Westminster, respectively. The Edinburgh sales are held in the summer, a quieter time of the year with fewer specialist sales.
The early sales were conducted in a crowded saleroom with standing room only where very much a party atmosphere prevailed. As the years have passed and technology advanced, the saleroom has given way to phone and online bidding.
As has been the tradition over the years, this year’s sale represented all the well-established names in the genre: George and Maud Earl, Arthur Wardle, Reuben Ward Binks, John Emms, Richard Ansdell, Herbert Dicksee, Henry Crowther, Morgan Dennis and others. These were mixed with lesser-known names at auction, including John Trickett and Clae Eastgate, both of whom are working today.
This year’s sale represented the more affordable end of the genre, with just one lot estimated over £10,000. Nevertheless, sale specialist Leo Webster was delighted with the overall aesthetic, range of breeds and general feel of the auction. The sale went down more of a picture route, with fewer works of art of other dog-related items.
The lot with the highest expectation, at between £15,000 and £20,000, was a portrait of a Toy Spaniel named “Duke,” painted in a sumptuous interior in 1850 by the Belgian artist Eugene-Joseph Verboeckhoven. However, it was one of a number of lots that failed to a find new home. Webster described the sale as “a little patchy with a weakened sell-through rate when compared with previous years — likely a knock-on effect of a slightly sticky market since the spring.” Around 50 percent of lots sold to U.K. bidders, with 33 percent being in the U.S., 10 percent in Europe, and the rest elsewhere. U.K. and U.S. spend was about the same, despite the difference in the number of lots sold to each country. As with specialist sales there were few trade buyers, with the large majority being private collectors.
Nevertheless, it was still a picture of a Toy Spaniel that led the field: a naive 19th-Century English School painting of tricolor standing on a red velvet drape that sold for £9,600. Such pictures are forever popular with interior designers working to create “The Look.” In a few instances entire walls are decorated with pictures of such ilk.
Twenty-nine of the 149 lots were from what Bonhams describe as the “Fox Hall Collection,” so named after the vendor’s home. These were just part of a large collection of dog artwork, primarily etchings and prints, built up by the vendor over the years. Among the prints were a number by Herbert Dicksee of Deerhounds, including one lying with its head alert that sold for £768. The Deerhound was one of the breeds Dicksee owned; he returned to the subject on a number of occasions, and they are some of his most popular subjects.
Included with the pictures was a portrait study of two Bulldog heads by Arthur Wardle that found a new home for £4,096. It was one of pair that earlier in the year was with the Country House Gallery in Lancashire with a price tag of £11,500.
The sale also included a number of Bloodhound lots, both pictures and bronzes, that were all from the same U.K. collection. Although there was no direct connection to Mrs. G. A. Oliphant, two of the pictures were of “Chatley” hounds, one being a head study of “Chatley Truelass” (£512) by the prolific English painter of dogs Henry Crowther. The Chatley hounds were known for their hunting prowess. Mrs. Oliver founded the Bloodhound Club in 1902 and was associated with the Four Shires Bloodhounds hunting pack.
John Emms was the “master” of painting Foxhounds. A keen follower of hounds himself, through his hunting he found many clients who greatly influenced his subject matter, which included horses, gundogs and terriers as well. He exhibited at most of the major galleries, but toward the end of his life he fell on hard times, exchanging paintings for alcohol with the proprietor of the Stag Inn at Lyndhurst. His atmospheric, superbly observed picture of an English Setter, Gordon Setter and Pointer high on the moors sold for £8,960.
Included were three pictures of Dandie Dinmont Terriers, a head study by Maud Earl, a bitch named “Ginger III” from the Duke of Buccleuch’s line inscribed “A.P.B.” and two terriers looking intently down a rabbit warren painted by Maud’s father, George, which sold for £1,664.
Richard Ansdell was one of the leading 19th-Century artists to specialize in painting genre scenes and animals who was influenced by the work of Sir Edwin Landseer. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, he moved with his wife to London, where they brought up their 11 children. Nevertheless, he maintained a house in Lancashire in what is now known as Ansdell. He is the only artist to have been honored with a town named after him. Typical of so much of his output was the picture of a black spaniel retrieving a hen pheasant on a misty moorland fall day. It found a new home at £6,400.
One of the lesser-known names, Clae Eastgate, was featured with, among others, a study of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi sitting on a chair now in a new home selling for £996, a sum which pleased the artist. This picture was among a number exhibited at the Kennel Club in 2012, which led to the Royal Kennel Club commissioning Clae to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the club’s then-patron. It hangs on permanent display at the club’s headquarters in London.