DEAN WOLSTENHOLME, SENR. 245 



places of residence. The possessor of considerable 

 means, he was able to indulge to the full the passion 

 for sport which is betrayed in his pictures. He was 

 an ardent lover of animals, more particularly dogs 

 and horses, and found his chiefest pleasure in fox- 

 hunting- and coursing. At this time he dabbled in 

 art merely for amusement, painting occasionally for 

 friends portraits of horses and hounds and also 

 scenes of sport. His talent as an artist was remarked 

 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who predicted that Dean 

 Wolstenholme would become a painter in earnest 

 before he died. Sir Joshua's remark was prophetic, 

 but Wolstenholme's adoption of the brush as a 

 means of livelihood was due not to talent, but 

 necessity. By some misfortune (1793) he became 

 involved in legal proceedings in connection with the 

 title of a property he had purchased at Waltham. 

 He was compelled to fight three suits in Chancery, 

 and finally losing the day found himself reduced to 

 very slender resources ; he had then no alternative 

 but to make a profession of the art he had thereto- 

 fore followed as a pleasure. 



About the year 1800, therefore. Dean Wolsten- 

 holme turned his back on country life and sports and 

 came to London. He settled in East Street, Red 

 Lion Square, and set to work to gain a livelihood ; 

 no slight change for a man past forty years of age, 

 who had been able to make sport the great business 



