REINAGLE, Philip
(b. 1749, Edinburgh, d. 1833, London)

A Pointer

c. 1795
Oil on canvas, 39 x 53 cm
Private collection

The picture represents 'Pero son of Pluto' - a pointer, the property of Colonel Thornton, on the point over a Snipe, a Mallard drake taking off beyond. Thomas Thornton (1757-1823), self-styled Prince of Chambord and Marquess de Pont, is famous for being one of the most dedicated and flamboyant sportsmen of the 18th and 19th centuries, dividing his time between hunting, racing, shooting, angling and hawking.

The present painting dates from the last years of the 18th century, when Reinagle was engaged in painting a series of canine portraits for various patrons (including the Thorold and Thornton families), before embarking in about 1802 in the large series of the various breeds of dogs of the British Isles which he painted as models for the engravings of the same in the Sportsman's Cabinet, a periodical which for a time was a great rival to the ubiquitous Sporting Magazine. The picture exhibits the free brushwork and broad treatment allied with vibrant colour which is the hallmark of the artist in his prime.