76 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



Bristowe did not confine himself to the portrayal 

 of animals, though in this department of art he 

 perhaps attained his highest excellence, displaying 

 great artistic ability, imaginative power, and intimate 

 technical knowledge. He painted also sporting 

 subjects, pictures of rural life, interiors and studies 

 of still life ; while his talent for portraiture is 

 sufficiently proved in his numerous sketches of 

 well-known characters in Windsor and Eton. His 

 pictures are usually painted on a small scale, cabinet 

 size finding special favour with him, and these often 

 display all the finish and delicacy of miniature work. 

 Among the best of his horse pictures special mention 

 may be accorded his " Cart Horses," " Barge 

 Horses," and " Horse Summering," which are 

 life-like in their pose and treatment and admirable 

 in composition. 



His success as an animal painter was greatly 

 due to his intuitive sympathy with beasts ; his 

 remarkable gift for rendering their characteristic 

 movements and expressions was partly innate, but 

 it plainly owed much to close and careful observa- 

 tion. Admirable as are his pictures of horses, his 

 delineations of monkey, cat, and dog life and 

 character display equal merit. There is no higher 

 test of an artist's ability than the opinion his con- 

 temporaries entertain of it ; and of Bristowe it is 

 recorded that he was on terms of intimacy with 



