1 66 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



he had not long adopted art as his profession ere 

 he was the recipient of commissions from some of 

 the most prominent turfites of the day, among 

 them the Dukes of Devonshire, Somerset and 

 Kingston, and Sir WilHam JolHffe. 



The gentleman last named was Seymour's prin- 

 cipal patron, and to his appreciation of the artist's 

 work is due the existence of a representative col- 

 lection of his paintings, consisting of fifteen pictures 

 now in the possession of Lord Hylton, of Ammer- 

 down, Bath. Sir William Jolliffe, Kt., was the 

 eldest son of John Jolliffe, Alderman of the City 

 of London in 1658, Member of Parliament for 

 Heytesbury in 1661, and for Petersfield in 1734, 

 and also a director of the Bank of England. Sir 

 William was a prominent figure on the English 

 turf of his time, and having also a taste for art, 

 gave Seymour numerous commissions. He died 

 unmarried, leaving his pictures to a nephew, John 

 Jolliffe, from whom Lord Hylton is descended. 



Among the pictures by Seymour thus preserved 

 are a few of great interest, not from an artistic 

 point of view, for it cannot be said that Seymour's 

 works have ever ranked highly in the esteem of 

 critics, but as pictorial contributions to turf and 

 social history. The quaint conventionality of the 

 drawing cannot conceal the shape and character of 

 the horses portrayed ; and the dress of hunting men, 



