Thomas Blinks (English, 1860-1912)
English Pointers
signed "T Blinks" lower left
oil on canvas, 14 by 18 in.

Thomas Blinks was a self-taught English artist who flourished during the Victorian era. He was popular during his lifetime, exhibiting twenty-nine paintings at the Royal Academy in London between 1883 and 1910, and many of his dynamic hunt scenes and dog portraits were made into prints. Blinks studied horses and their characteristic movements on the grounds of Tattersalls, a horse auction company dating from 1766, and his highly realistic paintings display keen observation and a skilled hand. His works can be found in the Royal Collection, London, among other institutions. This painting depicts two attentive pointers, taut with anticipation, set against an atmospheric landscape of gentle hills. A master of perspective, the dog in front feels as if it is almost surging out of the canvas.

Regarded as one of Great Britain’s finest canine painters, in 1998 a related Blink’s sporting dog work realized $564,000, setting a new auction record for the artist.

Provenance: Private Collection, Florida

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