Arthur Wardle - A Frog

Arthur Wardle - A Frog

£260

ARTHUR WARDLE

(1864-1949)


A Frog


Pastel on grey paper

Framed


9.5 by 18.5 cm., 3 ¾ by 7 ¼ in.

(frame size 16 by 25 cm., 6 ¼ by 10 in.)


Provenance:

By descent in the family of the artist.


Arthur Wardle was born in London.  He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880 when he was aged only 16 and thereafter was a regular and frequent exhibitor there and at many other London and provincial venues.  His early work seemed to concentrate on landscape and rustic scenes but from the 1890s the began to explore the subject matter for which he was to become so famous, namely domestic and wild animals, and big cats in particular.  He soon established a reputation for exhibiting large mythological and dramatic subjects which gave him the opportunity to include lions, tigers, leopards and occasionally even polar bears.  As Wardle lived in St John’s Wood he was close to London Zoo, which provided him with the chance to study his subjects closely.  As a regular visitor to the zoo and botanical gardens he made numerous sketches the animals, wildlife and plants he saw around him to work on into the large canvases in his studio.  


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