Richard Ansdell RA

Research by Sarah Kellam
Great Great Grand-daughter of Richard Ansdell

Richard Ansdell was born to Thomas Griffiths Ansdell, a ship’s pulley block maker at Liverpool docks and Anne (nee Jackson), a seamstress. His father died when he was young and he was educated at the Bluecoat School (for orphans). When he left school he trained as an apprentice silhouettist with W C Smith, profile and portrait painter of Chatham Street, Liverpool, Thereafter, he went to Holland painting signs for a circus. In 1836 he became a student at the Liverpool Academy where he eventually became President in 1845. Prior to this he had married Maria Romer (a Liverpool girl) and they went on to have eleven children.

In 1847 he left his native Liverpool and moved to Kensington, where he built a large house which he named 'Lytham House' after his beloved Lytham in Lancashire where he had built a sizeable residence called 'Starr Hills' in 1861. Nowadays the area of the town around Starr Hills is called ‘Ansdell’ after him – as is a street in Kensington. Ansdell also built a home, Moy Lodge, on the banks of Loch Laggan in Scotland, where he painted many Scottish subjects.

Between 1840 and 1885 Ansdell exhibited paintings annually at the Royal Academy (149 in all) and also exhibited some 30 canvases at the British Institution. He was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1861 and Royal Academician in 1870. He became one of the most successful Victorian sporting artists, collaborating on huge canvases with artists such as Thomas Creswick (1811–1869) and William Powell Frith (1819–1909), placing his animals into their landscapes.

Ansdell's popularity was established by two paintings in particular: The Combat showing two red stags locked in battle and The Fight for the Standard at the Battle of Waterloo, a life-sized depiction of Sgt Ewart of the Scots Greys grappling for the French Standard at the battle. This huge picture (13 x 11 feet) was originally painted for the Mess Hall of the Chelsea Pensioners but now hangs in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle.

In 1856 artist, John Phillip RA (1817-1867) and Ansdell travelled to Spain producing many Spanish pictures which they sent home by boat; Ansdell returned alone the following year after travelling by horseback and painting his way round southern Spain.

Ansdell's output was extremely prolific and hitherto unknown paintings often come to light, having been undocumented in family collections since Victorian times. He painted a wide variety of sporting, animal and romantic narrative subjects and was especially noted for his depiction of many breeds of dogs executed in fine, realistic detail with a sound knowledge of the subject. A tour de force was his 1842 depiction of The Country Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England at Bristol which featured 127 individual portraits, each painted separately from life.

He died at Collingwood Tower near Frimley in Surrey, the last mansion he built, which truly reflected his remarkable success as an artist. Popular as a person as well as an artist he preferred to be known as a Victorian 'professional artist', being realistic, level-headed and loyal to friends and family. He is buried, modestly, in a family plot at Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking in Surrey.

Click here to read Sarah Kellam's notes on the Lytham Sandhills or dunes

This letter was written from Lytham House - Ansdell's London residence that he named after his beloved Lytham St Annes. He was only educated to the age of 13 and I always marvel at the professional-looking letters that he sent to high society and his friends. Here he mentions the Artists' Benevolent Fund in which he took a keen interest, having seen many of his artist friends' families fall on hard times after the death of the head of the household.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Lytham House, St. Albans Road, Kensington
12th April 1870

Dear Mrs Henry

I send you the Ladies tickets I promised for the Artist Benevolent fund dinner. If you think it worth your while to use them.

I remain Dear Madame Yours very faithfully Rich C Ansdell

(he often signed like this and also signed his paintings as 'Rich d (in the air) Ansdell' - I think this is meant to be a d on the letter but it's come out as a C!)

Artworks by Richard Ansdell in the Lytham St Annes Art Collection

1 Red Cow
2 Dead Game, Pannier & Plaid
3 On the Road to Seville
4 Startled Deer
5 After a Day's Sport (with William Powell Frith)
6 The Rescue
7 Hunter and Deer in a Highland Landscape
8 A Day's Sport
9 A Boy and Girl with Hounds
10 A Brace of Pheasants

11 Retriever with Black Capercaillie
12 'Rabbiting' on Lytham Sandhills
13 Gamekeeper with Spaniels
14 Dog and Mallard: Waiting for a Good
   Bag (disputed)
15 The Herd Lassie
16 Lytham Sandhills
17 A Startled Ewe
18 A Scottish Landscape with Stalkers
19 Gun, Dogs and Game (after)

20 Waiting for Master 1867
21 Waiting for Master 1865
with John Charles Morris
22 Partridge Shooting
23 Staghound & Hind
24 Gathering Flocks on Grampian Hill
25 In the Highlands
26 Dog and Game

Without Reproduction
Two Spaniels with Game acc no 180
oil on canvas
68.8 x 91.4 cm (27 x 36 ins)
unknown acquisition method
unlocated at this time