Samuel Alken
Delineations of British Field Sports
Lithograph series
25 x 42 cm

Samuel Alken Jr. (1784–1825) was a British artist and engraver, part of the prominent Alken family of painters and engravers, known for their sporting and hunting scenes. He was the son of Samuel Alken Sr. and contributed significantly to the family’s artistic legacy. Like his father, Alken Jr. worked primarily in engraving and painting, specialising in aquatint and other printmaking techniques.

In-keeping with family tradition, Alken Jr. often depicted sporting subjects such as horse racing, hunting, and other outdoor pursuits in his engravings and paintings. As such, his works have been praised for their dynamic composition and attention to detail.

This lithograph series originally featured in ‘Delineations of British Field Sports – Together with the various methods of painting. A series published by Alken’s in 1822, the coloured issue ranks as one of the rarest sporting books of the period. There is only one record of a second coloured copy, which is ‘untraceable’ according to Schwerdt. Schwerdt also notes that the vigorous style of these plates made them eminently suitable for framing, and accounts in part for their rarity; ‘twenty years’ search has not enabled us to make up a complete set’.

This extensive series comprises (as pictured):
Death of the Fox
Gamekeepers shooting a buck
Race Horses in Training
Poachers Netting Partridges
Coursing the Hare
Drawing the Badger
Death of the Hare
Pheasant Poaching
Stag Hunting
Coursing scene.

Condition: Generally very good.

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