RICHARD ANSDELL, A.R.A.

RICHARD ANSDELL was born at Liverpool in 1815, and received his education at the Blue-coat School of that town, an institution similar to that of the Metropolis. He had, from a child, and felt that he had, an innate love of art; but until the age of one-andtwenty he was unable to commence his professional studies; he made various attempts to apply, but in vain, to other professions, which promised a more lucrative, though less congenial, career. Until 1847 Mr. Ansdell resided in Liverpool.

The subject of our memoir exhibited for the first time in the Royal Academy in the year 1840. The titles of his pictures were "Grouse-shooting" and "A Galloway Farm," and were the property of the Marquis of Bute. The following year, in the same place, he exhibited "The Earl of Sefton and Party returning from Hunting." In 1842 a picture of a much more ambitious character, and executed with great spirit and vigour; it is "The Death of Sir W. Lambton, at the Battle of Marston Moor." Sir W. Lambton was a Royalist; he was slain by a ball aimed at him by one of Cromwell's troopers. He is represented as lying extended in death upon the field of battle, whilst his wounded horse is rearing in the intensity of its agony. Mr. Ansdell's contribution to the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1843 was again a subject of suffering: a fine stag, hard pressed by the hounds, has entered a shallow lake, where the dogs are speedily upon him. His picture exhibited in 1844 was entitled "Mary Queen of Scots returning from the Chase to Stirling Castle." The Queen, surrounded by her attendants, is preparing to dismount from her. steed. The picture exhibited by our artist in the subsequent year

was a group of portraits. It was entitled, "Fox-hunting in the North." It contained the portrait of a gentleman of Windermere, surrounded by various members of his family, his huntsman and dogs.

Mr. Ansdell's first contribution to the British Institution in 1846, was a work of great mark, of delicate execution, and evidently the result of long and careful study; it was called "The Drover's Halt." It was of considerable size, and contained a variety of human figures and groups of cattle halting at a roadside "bothie" in the Highlands. In the distance was seen the Isle of Mull. The same year he exhibited a very large picture at the Royal Academy, the figures of the animals life-size; it was entitled "The Stag at Bay." The background of the picture is extremely wild,-the rocky bed of a mountain-torrent, whither the stag has fled from the assailing dogs, several of which he has already severely wounded. You perceive, however, that the doom of the noble animal draws momentarily nearer and nearer, for already the rifle of the hunter is perceived above the screening rock. The following year, at the Academy, Mr. Ansdell exhibited a companion picture to his "Stag at Bay," "The Combat," two stags engaged in fearful conflict,-the whole picture terrible from its fierce power and marvellous embodiment of brute fury. These powerful pictures are well known to the public, through the large engravings from them by Ryall. Mr. Ansdell's contributions to the exhibitions of the British Institution that same year were "Turf-Stackers," a scene in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, and "The Death," Stag-hunting in the Olden Time. In 1848, at the British Institution, he exhibited "The Bogged Pony" and "The Wounded Hound." The last of these pictures possesses an especial interest in the plaintive, tender expression, mingled with resignation, so marvellously depicted in the wounded dog, which is having its foot dressed by the old keeper.

In the Academy of the same year appeared an historical picture, "The Battle of the Standard," representing the famous combat of Sergeant Ewart, of the Scots Greys, with several Polish Lancers, at Waterloo. This picture, at the time of its exhibition, was very highly spoken of by the press.

In 1849, in the British Institution, appeared "An Old Trespasser," a pony attacked by dogs in a newly-reaped field of corn; and in the Academy, "The Wolf-Slayer" and "The Death of