Since 1763 the name 'Russborough' has been synonymous with collecting and dealing in fine art. In the closing decades of the last century the historic town of Port Hope has become home to Lord Russborough's Annex, which specialises in an individual mix of antique maps, paintings and prints.

While Lord Russborough's Annex features a great many works of museum calibre, we also offer a wonderful selection of prints priced at under $100.

The Great Boxing Match

The Great Boxing Match

THE GREAT FIGHT BETWEEN BROOME & HANNAN FOR £1000
Charles Hunt after H. Heath

This classic boxing match took place Jan 26th 1841 in the presence of a thousand spectators at New Park Farm near Bicester, Oxen. on the borders of Buckinghamshire. The battle lasted 1hour and 19 minutes, 47 rounds, when Broome was declared the victor. Hannan stands 5ft.5in. fighting wt. 9 st. 3 lbs. (129 lbs.) Born Sept. 20th. 1817. Broome stands 5 ft. 61/2 fighting wt. 9 st. 10 lbs.(136 lbs.) Born March 4 1818

RARE. London published in 1841 by John Moore printseller & publisher to H.R.H. Duke of Orleans at his wholesale picture & looking glass manufactory 1 & 2 corner West St . Upper St . Martins Lane. Charles Hunt after H. Heath. London 1841.

Charles Hunt was primarily known as a highly skilled engraver of Sporting Prints, his son, Charles Hunt jr. often worked with him. Ralph Neville in his book British Sporting Prints
This magnificent original handcoloured aquatint is complimented by a spectacular rich mahogany and gilt rope frame which enhances the boxing ring theme. Click for more information on the printing technique.

Image: 20 1/2 x 26" (52 X 66 cm. ) inc. letters,
Frame: 43 1/2 X 38 1/2" (110.5 X 98 cm)

Ref. AG.1/AANN/ddoo>ROLN
PRICE CODE H  SOLD   Click for Pricing Details

cricket marylebone

THE FIRST PRINTED DEPICTION OF THE GAME OF CRICKET

 CRICKET
[as played in Mary-le-bone-fields]

Charles Grignion after F. Hayman
Published July 16 1748

VERY RARE. Original Copper engraving un-coloured as issued. Good condition, de-acidified and strengthened with tissue on verso, some browning due to age.
Handsome original period flawed bubble glass, heavy mahogany period wood frame.
  

A fine dark impression of a mid 18th. Century cricket match is depicted. The image is reputed to be of the match at the Royal Academy Club at the Mary-le-bone-fields in ca.1744 (the original 1744 oil painting by Hayman is in the possession of the Marylebone Cricket Club, (M.C.C.) London, England.

Note: A wicket of just two stumps and bail, the pitch has been rolled and the batsmen are using a curved bat. The man facing the bowler stands astride the crease. The bowler using a larger ball than today is about to bowl underarm. The frock coated and hatted umpires lean upon curved bats. Most of the eleven fielders wear caps, the game is watched by a young gentleman and his lass who recline on the grass. The scene is set in a gated field surrounded by trees. Some discrete conservation of unobtrusive wormholes (top center and top left corner of paper) has been professionally undertaken. In all a fine impression of this very rare sporting image, which is enhanced by its original 18th. Cent. bubble glass and period frame. 
This differs from the smaller Cricket [-in-the-artillery-ground] view after Hayman Published 1752. 

16 1/8 x 23 ¾  "  (41x 60.3cm.)  Frame: 27 3/8 x 36 ¼"
Ref. PdeA2/ANNN/ r.anda >RSNN     PRICE CODE H  SOLD

  Click for pricing details

 

Cary canoe running a rapid

[RUNNING A RAPID]

William de la Montagne Cary
1891
RARE. Fine art etching, signed in graphite below image with two etched remarques. Laid to heavier backing as issued, Original glass, Period black wood frame.

This is a rare fine art etching depicting a birch bark canoe loaded with camping supplies in the act of being paddled through a rapid by two able canoeists, good canoe detail is seen.

Click here for detail of image

The scene of paddlers disturbing a flight of nine ducks as the former negotiate a rapid in the curve of a river, is set against a finely executed wooded mountain background which could be any of numerous locations in the U.S. or Canada. The image is ‘Dedicated to the Canoeists of America’, below the image, which is enhanced by the two remarques depicting: (1) a family of deer and (2) a backwoods campsite. The image is signed and dated in the plate and autographed in graphite below the image. (Bottom Right). Click for more information on the printing technique.

Image: 14 5/8 x 27 3/8”  ( 37.2 x 69.5cm.)    
Frame: 22 ½  x 34 ¾”    

Ref. LRA 1151/VAV.GN/e.anne> DLNN   PRICE CODE E   SOLD  Click for Pricing Details

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hopkins voyageur canoes lake superior

 

LAKE  SUPERIOR


Offset litho of the original steel engraving by Charles Mottram, published by M. Knoedler & Co. New York, Goupil & Co, Paris & London. 1873, this lithograph Ottawa 2004.
After the painting by Frances Anne Hopkins  ‘Canoes in a fog, Lake Superior ‘ 1869.

 

The image depicts three canoes travelling in a diagonal line away from the viewer, the slight wake and ripples suggest movement through the glassy stillness of the fog shrouded water of Lake Superior, the farthest canoe being swallowed into that indefinable space between water & sky, fleetingly reflected upon the still water. Fog is common along the north and east shores of Lake Superior in summer, slowly dissipating in the morning sunlight, or rolling in swiftly, obscuring the shoreline; it can be cold, impenetrable and eerie. Frances Anne Hopkins faithfully captured that ethereal, timeless quality. Characteristically, she has included herself a seated passenger alongside her husband in the center of the nearest canoe, she has chosen as her viewpoint the whole canoe, as if she was travelling in another along side it.

Frances Anne Hopkins. ?1838 - 5 March 1919.  Was the granddaughter Sir William Beechey (1753 - 1839),  a renown portrait painter who was able to include royalty among his clients. Her father Rear Admiral Frederick William Beechey (1796 - 1856 ) artist, explorer, author. Frances Anne arrived at Lachine, Canada at age 20 following her marriage to Edward Martin Hopkins,  HBC. chief factor of the Montreal Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC.). Frances, accompanied her husband on his tour of inspection to Fort William 1864, possibly by way of  diversion following the death of her son. This was one of at least three long canoe trips they made together.  The Hopkins’s remained in Canada 12 years with some trips to England & Europe, during which she exhibited in London. Canoes in a Fog, Lake Superior was accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy, in May 1869. In 1923 the public Archives of Canada purchased her four ‘Voyager paintings’, and her work did provide an impetus for younger painters of the Dominion to portray their own country and the many facets of its way of life.

20 x 30" (55.7 x 76.2 inc. letters

Ref. LRA        /DN.VN/    .anne > LL  PRICE CODE  A  Click for Pricing Details

Click for more information on the printing technique.

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Skittles or nine pins

SKITTLES
George Hunt after A. Player

 
Hand tinted, Aquatint, published by T. MacLean & Co, London 1827 ?  late impression T. Ross & Co. ca. 1970
Plate size 12 x 15 1/8”
 Ref. LRA Dps130/- / DVL   PRICE CODE B

 The bowling recreational game of Skittles also known as ‘Nine pins’ has been played for over 500 years in England, is depicted
 
A. Player is probably a pseudonym.
 George Hunt was active 1820-1840

THE EPITOME OF BRITISH EQUESTERIAN ART

aldin hunter

Click here for enlargement of above image

aldin polo

aldin racer

CECIL CHARLES WINDSOR
ALDIN
  RBA.

 HORSE TYPE SERIES: HUNTER AND FOX HOUNDS.  [‘Brains’]
POLO PONY AND STICKS. [‘Activity’]
THOROUGHBRED AND GROOM. [‘Quality’]

Three Scarce colour Photolithographs each laid onto backing sheets as issued, each signed in graphite on backing sheet, from the set of Four Horse Types.
Published by Welbeck Publishing Co. Ltd. London. 1932
Each mounted within a period French line and panel matt, and set into their original decorated
gilt - lip  mahogany frames.

These three very scarce images were issued as a limited edition, (of which these are number 38), by the Welbeck Publishing Co. 1932 (some sources say 1920’s) after the original pastel drawings of four ‘Horse Types’ by Cecil Aldin (the Shire Horse – ‘Strength’ completes the series). Each is signed by the artist in graphite below left on the original backing sheet as issued, a printed signature also appears in the image.
The images are considered to be among the finest examples of British equestrian art.

c aldin

Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin (1870-1935) was born in Slough, in 1870, and lived near Reading, England. His artistic talent for portraying animals and rural life developed at an early age. He left school at the age of sixteen and, encouraged by his father, a builder by profession but himself a skilled amateur artist, Aldin enrolled in the Royal College of Art. Cecil was later influenced by British sporting artist William Frank Calderon (1865-1943), an artist and teacher who founded The School of Animal Painting in Sussex in 1894 and who was later to teach Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) and Lionel Edwards (1878-1966), two famous British sporting artists also at work in the early twentieth century.

Image size each 15 1/2 x 27 1/4"                 Frame size each 27 x 31 1/4”

Ref. MK 1-3 /DNNN/ da.anng> DLLN ea.     PRICE CODE E    SOLD  Click here for pricing details

A prolific painter, Aldin is known in particular for his sporting art, sensitive depictions of dogs, horses, and hunting scenes in the English countryside. He was successful and admired in his own time, as a writer and illustrator of books and magazines, his images becoming more popular with the passage of time. “Cecil Aldin can justly be described as one of the leading spirits in the renaissance of British sporting art” (Alan Horne, The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators, p. 67).
But as a painter of renown, he became one of the most popular and successful of all British sporting artists. Aldin is best known for his large prints of hunts, coaching and races. His sporting art featured one of his lifelong passions, hunting. He became famous for his watercolours and humorous prints showing foxhunting scenes in the English countryside, as well as his ability to portray the dogs, horses, and animals that were the protagonists of these scenes. In particular, his special talent in sketching and painting dogs. In a funny pose, the tilt of a head or a cocked ear, Aldin captured the individual character of the many dogs and breeds he worked with. His art shows the camaraderie he felt with his canine friends and models, though his work is never overly cute or sweet.

His serious and exacting portrayal of scenes of hunting, racing and horse portraiture is among the finest in British Sporting Art. Aldin was the Master South Berkshire Hunt. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1898.

The rarity of these original limited edition prints will only increase, as the metal printing plates originally used to produce these prints were destroyed in World War II. Accordingly, no new editions of Aldin's prints pulled from these original plates can ever be issued.

To see examples of Aldin's caricature prints click here

Click here for more information on offset photolithographic prints

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The Quintessential Polo image

Dollman Polo

 

John Charles
  DOLLMAN
British
1851 – 1934

POLO

Original Hand-coloured photogravure 1890.  Some foxing, [Natural & Gilt-wood frame
163/8 x 29 1/2” (41.5 x 75cm.)          [Frame 26 3/4 x 40”]

Ref. LRA 3009/DNN/o.ns > LLN          PRICE CODE  C  SOLD   Click here for pricing details

Depicts an enthusiastic exchange at the gallop during a Chukka of a Polo match.

John Charles Dollman 1851 – 1934 was educated at the RA schools and became a noted panted of animals, sporting scenes and historical genre he first worked as a black & white illustrator, changing to oil and watercolour later in his career. He exhibited at RA. RWS.  R I.  ROI.

Dollman Polo detail

Detail

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TWO GREAT SPORTING IMAGES

pollard_stleger_pl2  

Doncaster Races - Race for the great St Leger Stakes, 1836
Plate 2: Approbation - off in good style

Original hand coloured aquatint, engraved by J. Harris after James Pollard. Published Ackermann, London 1837. Laid to card, foxing, 4 1/2 ” tear thorough middle left, right border partially replaced, some fading.

Depicts a field of 14 runners at full gallop with crowds of spectators both on the ground and on the stands in the background. This series is now extremely hard to find. Despite their condition and selling w.a.f. these are still desirable aquatints by one of the great masters of the medium.  They could certainly be restored and condition improved, making them a good buy at this price for the racing enthusiast.

177/8 x 273/8" plate size.

Ref. PM1/LNN/r.ns> DLN   PRICE CODE A   Click here for pricing details

pollard_stleger_pl3

Doncaster Races - Race for the great St Leger Stakes, 1836
Plate 3: Anticipation - who is the winner

 Original hand coloured aquatint, engraved by J. Harris after James Pollard. Published Ackermann, London 1837. Laid to card, foxing, 4 ” tear thorough middle right border, some fading.

The fourteen runners approach the finish line under the scrutiny of the mounted race marshal and officials seen with their crowd control batons as they line the racecourse. The large crowd of spectators is seen behind the fences, many of the wealthier atop carriages. The large towering grandstand, seen in the left of the picture, which had been erected at a cost of £2,637 by the architect John Carr, is similarly thronged with enthusiastic race goers. In the foreground, the elegant starter’s box with its bell.
In 1776 a group of sportsmen subscribed to a new sweepstakes which two years later gained its name from the popular Lt-General Anthony St. Leger. The same year the venue moved to the new course on the town moor. By the 1800’s the race was recognized as a Classic.

This series is now extremely hard to find. Despite their condition and selling w.a.f., these are still desirable aquatints by one of the great masters of the medium.  They could certainly be restored and condition improved, making them a good buy at this price for the racing enthusiast.

18 x 271/2"  plate size.

Ref. PM2/LNN/r.ns>AAL     PRICE CODE B   Click here for pricing details

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James Pollard (1792-1867) studied and learnt the art of painting horses under his father, Robert, and by Thomas Berwick the art of engraving. He became a very successful and widely published painter of coaching scenes and between 1830-40 sporting, racing and steeplechase subjects. He excelled at background and his work was much sought after by both dealers and private patrons. Today he is appreciated for the historical accuracy and contemporary detail of his coaching and sporting scenes, together with his mastery of the aquatint process. Following the death of his wife and daughter his work declined. In all he engraved 146 of the 343 plates made after his paintings.

Emilius

Emilius

EMILIUS James Pollard.

The racehorse EMILIUS was not only a very successful horse but a most valuable one, earning in excess of £ 1837 - an immense sum in its day.

Engraved below the image in handsome example of copperplate script is his form. He was bred by J.R. Udney esq. in 1820 got by Orville, his dam Emily by Stamford, grand dam by Whiskey out of Grey Dorimant by Dorimant Dizzy by Blank Dizzy by Driver.

In 1823, at Newmarket Craven Meeting he won the Piddlesworth Stakes of 200gs. each 1/2 f t. beating the D. of Grafton's Talisman & two others and at the same meeting he walked over for the Dinner Stakes of 300 g s. Each h f. f t. ( in subscribrs. ) & won the Derby Stakes at Epsom of 50gs. Each 60, subscribers beating Tancred & 8 others. At Ascot Heath Meeting he won the 200gs. Sweepstakes, 5 subscribers beating Lord Darlington's Whisher. Newmarket first Oct. meeting when he won the Grand Duke Michael Stakes of Guineas each beating the Duke of Grafton's Zink. Newmarket 2nd. Octr. meeting he won a sweepstakes of 500gs. beating the Duke of Grafton's Cinder, In 1824 at Newmarket 1st. Oct r. meet. he bt. M r. Fletchers Jock for 500 Gs. ab M."
interestingly the last line was added after the death of the horse and after the initial publication of the plate in 1823 making this a scarce 1824 printing.

SCARCE. Original handcoloured aquatint, Click for more information on the printing technique. Original glass & natural wood frame. Drawn and Engraved by James Pollard. Holloway near London. Publ. July 11 1823 [1824] by. R. Pollard & Sons.

James Pollard (1792-1867) was taught by his father the art of painting horses, and by Thomas Berwick the art of engraving. He became a very successful and widely published painter of coaching and sporting scenes. He excelled at background and his work was much sought after by both dealers and private patrons. Today he is appreciated for the historical accuracy and contemporary detail of his coaching and sporting scenes. His portraits of famous racehorses being particularly desirable.

Equestrian portraits of this quality are not often found.

Approx. 14" x 17 1/4" inc. letters ( 35.5 x 44cm)
Frame 21 1/4" x 25" (54 x 64cm)

Ref. JB.2/ANN /ooo >SNN Price Code D  SOLD    Click for Pricing Details     Return to top

Sporting Print Collage 

SCARCE SET OF SHOOTING PRINTS

Set of six aquatints depicting the sport of shooting with guns & dogs.

......one can almost smell the gunpowder and hear the beat of wings

Plt. 1 Grouse Shooting - August
Plt. 2 Partridge Shooting - September
Plt. 3 Pheasant Shooting - October
Plt. 4 Woodcock Shooting - November
Plt. 5 Duck Shooting - December
Plt. 6 Snipe Shooting - January

Charles Hunt after Francis Calcraft Turner (1795-1865).

Turner was a keen sportsman himself, and most of his works depict hunting or racing scenes based upon his own observations his attention to detail was exacting as to dogs and fowling pieces, equipment and foliage which combine to make a set such as this desirable.

These fine images have been professionally cleaned & restored to the extent that the somewhat weak paper will allow, however some fading and discolouration is evident; Charles Hunt after Francis Calcraft Turner (1795-1865) Published by I.W. Laird, London 1841. Charles Hunt was primarily known as a highly skilled engraver of Sporting Prints, his son, Charles Hunt jr. often worked with him.

Original period oak frames & glass.
Click for more information on the printing technique.

18 x 23" Plate size     24 x 291/4" frame size.

Ref. BH1/ANSN>RRAN     SOLD
Price Code H      Click for Pricing Details      Return to top


John Henry Robinson after Sir Edwin Landseer  RA
 
Deer stalking in the Highlands - Waiting for the deer to rise.
 a.k.a. Poachers Deerstalking

 
Published London 1846. Mixed media engraving on thick wove paper, slight foxing, matted, glazed gilt-wood  frame.
21 1/2 x 27" (54.6 x 68.6 cm.)   Frame 30 1/2 x 35 1/2"
Ref.  RM8 (205)/DLN/ d.anar> ELN    PRICE CODE B  
 
Three sportsmen one wearing a kilt and the other two a plaid, crouch behind the brow of a hill, the foremost holding a gun, his neighbour looking at the third man, who steps across a stream in the right foreground, lie in wait of unseen prey, amid the Scottish highlands. An alert, well rendered, deerhound is restrained in the foreground. This edition Published May 1, 1846, by F.G. Moon, Printseller to Her Majesty, London 1846. 


Robinson after Landseer Poachers Deerstalking

Frederick Bromley after John Frederick Tayler (Taylor) P.O.W.S. 1802-1889

The Shot

 
Mixed media engraving on thick wove paper, Slight foxing, matted, glazed gilt-wood  frame.
21 ½  x 27" (54.6 x 68.6 cm.)   Frame 30 ½ x 35 ½"
Ref.  RM7 (205)/DLN/ d.anar> ELN    PRICE CODE B  
 
Amid the Scottish Highlands, two alert deerhounds are held in check by an elderly plaid clad ghillie who also restrains his grandson, as another kilt clad ghillie discharges his gun at an unseen prey. The dogs are particularly sensitively rendered as befitting the hand of a master animal painter.

Ashdown Coursing Meeting

Charles Mottram after Stephen Pearce

The Ashdown Coursing Meeting

Original hand-coloured engraving on paper, matted, glazed, period natural wood oak frame,
Published: London. September 2nd. 1872 by Henry Graves & Company. Inscribed: 'Engraved from the Picture, Presented to the Right Honorable The Earl Craven, to whom this plate is respectfully dedicated',
Image 17 3/8 x 38 3/4"  (44.2 x 98.4 cm) including letters    Frame 27 x 50" 
Ref. OC1(147) /RLN/ da.andg>  DALN SOLD  PRICE CODE  E

This is the most sophisticated depiction of the field sport of Coursing that we have seen. The Ashdown Coursing Club was the second oldest in England, The atmosphere of the meet is exceptionally well captured by Pearce: the wide open terrain of the sweep of the Berkshire downs (nr. Lambourn) in early spring, the attendance of the gentry, greyhound owners, slipper, judges, trainers and horse-back or carriage conveyed spectators.  The horses, dogs, and even the terrified hare, are handsomely portrayed. Seen in the group to the right. Are George Grimston Craven, 3rd Earl of Craven (16 March 1841 – 7 December 1883) and his wife the Countess Evelyn. Also seen in the carriage are the dowager Countess Emily and William Viscount Uffington (4th Earl).

Coursing was a field sport popular with many gentlemen during the Regency, as the sport gained popularity, more gentlemen were interested in matching their hounds against others, for a wager, of course. By the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the greyhound was the dog most commonly coursed, though whippets where occasionally included in some coursing meetings. The greyhound is the fastest dog of all the breeds, and it was that speed which became the primary focus of coursing matches.
Coursing was a winter sport. In public coursing, the sport was in watching how well the greyhound pursued its quarry in competition with another dog. In more than two-thirds of all public matches, the hare actually escaped the hounds. Public coursing meetings always took place on a large area of relatively open, unfenced ground, as the judges and the spectators wanted to see the dogs as they worked. The judge of the match was typically mounted on horseback, as would be most spectators, certainly the aristocratic ones. But there might be a few lower-class spectators on foot along the course, out to enjoy the sport of their betters. However, the "slipper," the man who released the dogs to chase the hare, was almost always on foot.
The essentials of any coursing meeting were a series of matches, each of which comprised the pursuit of a hare by a pair, or brace, of greyhounds.
Once the hare was on the course, it was the slipper’s responsibility to be certain that both greyhounds on his leash had the hare in sight before he slipped them. But to ensure a good match between the dogs, he had to give the hare a fair start. It was also the slipper’s responsibility to be sure he did not release his dogs until the match judge, on horseback nearby, was in position to have a clear view of the beginning of the chase. The pursuit of the hare could cover as much as three to five miles, with the judge and the mounted spectators all riding behind the fleeing hare and her canine pursuers.
Stephen Pearce (1819- 1904) was a portrait and equestrian painter. he was brought up in the Royal Mews where his father worked and where he had a chance to paint the Queen's horses. Trained at the RA. schools he was a pupil of Sir Martin Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy. Pearce was an important painter of great ability, known for his equestrian presentation portraits and groups such as this fine example.