HOWE, After James (1780-1836)

Hawking [To Sir John Maxwell, of Pollock, Bart. This plate is taken from a Picture, in the posession of Mr. Fleming of Borochan is most respectfully Dedicated, By His, most obliged and humble Servants R. & J. Finlay]

[Glasgow: R. & J. Finlay, January 1834]. Etching, engraving roulette and mezzotint, printed in colours, with occasional touches of hand-colouring, by Charles Turner of London, after James Howe of Edinburgh (margins close-shaved, the lower margin shaved with loss to the title). Image size (including text): 19 1/8 x 23 5/8 inches. Sheet size: 20 1/4 x 25 inches.

A very fine image and a technical masterpiece of the print-maker's art.

This excellent print depicts Malcolm Fleming of Barochan (1745-1811), the Grand Falconer of Scotland, astride his hunter with a peregrine at his fist. Immediately in front of him stands his falconer, John Anderson, with two birds on his wrist. His assistant sits calmly with two further birds. At their feet are six retreiving dogs of various breeds and colours. In the mid ground can be seen the Barochan Tower from which Fleming took his name. 'Howe obtained a great reputation for his skill in drawing horses and cattle, and was employed in drawing portraits of well-known animals for a series of illustrations of British domestic animals, published by the Highland Society of Scotland to stimulate breeding. He was also commissioned by Sir John Sinclair to draw examples of various breeds of cattle. A set of fourteen engravings of horses from drawings by Howe were published and, for the most part, engraved by W. H. Lizar, at Edinburgh in 1824, and a series of forty-five similar engravings of horses and cattle was published in 1832. Howe came once to London to paint the horses of the royal stud, but resided principally at Edinburgh, where he was a frequent exhibitor at the Edinburgh exhibitions, Royal Institution, and Royal Scottish Academy from 1808 to the time of his death. In 1815 he visited the field of Waterloo, and painted a picture of the battle, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1816' (DNB).

Mellon British Sporting and Animal Prints p.104; Schwerdt III p.179; Siltzer p.333; Whitman Charles Turner (1907) no.760.

Item #6519

Price: $2,750.00