132 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



In 1769, the Royal Academy was established 

 to foster promising talent ; such eminent pioneers 

 as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Henry Raeburn 

 and John Constable, among others, were creating 

 and elevating British schools of art at this 

 period. Animal painters in particular now enjoyed 

 exceptional opportunities for perfecting themselves 

 in those branches of knowledge mastery of which 

 is essential to success. A celebrated anatomist 

 named Joshua Brookes had established a Museum 

 and Anatomical School in Blenheim Street, where 

 he gave lectures to young students on the structure 

 of quadrupeds, birds and fishes. Painters of horses, 

 too, could profit by the wonderful results of George 

 Stubbs' industry, his great work on The Anatomy of 

 the Horse with its twenty-four engraved plates, 

 having been published in the year 1766. 



John N. Sartorius with his natural artistic 

 ability, doubtless took advantage of these schools 

 of painting ; he must also have gained a know- 

 ledge of sport, as the turf, the hunting field, the 

 gun, the kennel and the leash furnished subjects 

 for his prolific brush ; and whether he dealt with 

 equine portraiture pure and simple, with hunting, 

 shooting or coursing scenes, he betrayed intimate 

 knowledge of each sport and invested his pictures 

 with remarkable spirit and animation. 



He counted his patrons among the leading 



