George Thomas Paice (1854-1925)
| Artist Name | George Thomas Paice (1854-1925) |
|---|---|
| Title | Portrait of Dog and Rabbit Friends |
| Description | This lovely British Victorian animal art oil painting is by noted animal artist George Paice. It was painted in 1898 and is signed and dated lower right. The composition is a black and white wire haired terrier sat beside a ginger and white rabbit in its hutch. Both animals look relaxed in each others company, but one free the other caged. There is great brushwork detailing the different textures of the dog's stiff hair, the rabbit's fur, the straw on the floor and light catching the chicken wire. It's a very sweet painting of animal friendship and a lovely British Victorian oil painting. Signed and dated (18)98 lower right. |
| Provenance | Private collection UK. |
| Medium | Oil on Canvas |
| Size | 21 x 17 inches |
| Frame | Housed in a complementary frame, 28 inches by 24 inches and in good condition. |
| Condition | Good condition. |
| Biography | George Thomas Paice (1854-1925) was a British landscape, canine, hunting, and equestrian painter. Born in Pimlico, London, Paice studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and at the Royal Academy from 1905-1910. He worked mostly for private collectors, his paintings almost never present at public exhibitions. Nevertheless, he did exhibit his works at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Society of British Artists, gaining notoriety among the wealthy. He was quickly a much sought-after artist by the English aristocracy, one or two mecenes encouraging his work. Probably for that reason, most of his paintings remained in private collections until two decades ago when some of those works appeared in world known Auction Houses such as Christie's South Kensington. After his marriage in 1879, he and his wife, Eunice Mary Stuart, moved to Croydon where Paice painted most of his horses and dogs, although he did paint some point-to-point landscapes, these larger than the usually small format animal portraits he was commissioned to paint (among the most known and famous artworks of Paice are "The Red Lion Inn, Wendlesbury, Nr. Bicester, Oxfordshire", "'Jenny' a bay hunter in a landscape", and "A saddled bay hunter in a stable with a goat"). Rarely did he paint people, one of the few exceptions being his own self-portrait. He used various signatures: "P" ('A bay horse at a manger in a stable interior',1883), "GPaice" - P and G superposed -('Huntsmen and Hounds',1886,Lotherton Hall, Leeds Museums and Galleries), "G.Paice"('Swanington',1907), "George Paice" ('Two Pugs on a Red Divan',1880). A wealthy artist at the beginning of the 20th century, Paice suffered a great loss of money during World War I due to lack of commissions but continued painting until his death. Strangely enough, George Paice remains absent from many Art Dictionaries, although his paintings travelled overseas, as referred in The National Sporting Library (NSL) Newsletter, Spring 2008: Mrs. Dulaney also contributed an oil painting by British artist George Paice (1854–1925), Hunter in a Box Stall with Docked Tail, in which the handsome bay poses alertly in a spacious box stall, eyeing the viewer. Works; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool - Marsh Mallow(1920) Leeds Art Gallery - Three Horses: Whissendine, Swallow and Tiptop (1886) Huntsmen and Hounds (1886) - a gift by Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne, 1968 National Trust, Mount Stewart - Tess', a Collie in a Landscape (c. 1910) Museum of Modern Art, New York City The National Sporting Library and Museum,Middleburg, Virginia Paice died in 1925 aged 71 and was buried in the family grave, in Croydon, his racing colours (he had always been interested in racings) draped on his coffin. With his animal portraits present in galleries and museums in England and in the United States at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, Paice's paintings have been sold at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams. |
| Price | £6000 |
