1 86 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



of 92 works to the Royal Academy, and also con- 

 tributed many paintings to other exhibitions and 

 galleries. For goldsmiths, he designed subjects 

 for engraving and embossment on gold and silver 

 decorative pieces, race cups, trophies and bowls. 



His most noteworthy achievement in this depart- 

 ment of art was his success in the competition for 

 the Silver Shield presented to the Duke of Welling- 

 ton by the Merchants and Bankers of London. 

 The drawings he sent in for this were scarcely 

 more remarkable for artistic merit than for the 

 miraculous speed with which they were prepared : 

 exactly three weeks was the time at his command, 

 and in three weeks he studied the history of the 

 Peninsular War, selected the incidents which com- 

 mended themselves as most proper for representa- 

 tion, and executed his designs ! Many of our best 

 known pieces of sculpture (Chantrey's " Sleeping 

 Children " occurs as a prominent example), eques- 

 trian groups and others, were chiselled from designs 

 by Stothard. He was a most industrious and 

 prolific workman ; it is recorded that he made over 

 five thousand designs for various objects ; of these 

 more than 3,000 have been engraved for various 

 publications. 



Of sporting matters Stothard had little know- 

 edge, or none ; his interest in beast, bird, and. 

 flower was that of the naturalist, or rather that of 



