Sawrey Gilpin

Sawrey Gilpin (30 October 1733 - 8 March 1807) was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician.

Life and work

Gilpin was born in Carlisle in Cumbria, Kingdom of Great Britain. He was the seventh child of Captain John Bernard Gilpin, a soldier and amateur artist, and Matilda Langstaffe. He was the younger brother of the Rev. William Gilpin, a clergyman and schoolmaster who wrote of several influential works on picturesque scenery.

Works Many of his pictures of horses, dogs, and sporting scenes were engraved, notably The Death of the Fox (Royal Academy, 1788), engraved by John Scott (1774–1827); and Heron-Hawking (Society of Artists, 1780), engraved by Thomas Morris (fl. 1780-1800). He also made some etchings of horses and cattle, and made many illustrations for the works, both published and unpublished, of his brother William.

There are works by Gilpin in the collections of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Tate Britain, and the Royal Academy, in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Gallery