A Hunt
by SEYMOUR, James, Oil on canvas, 82 x 99 cm
This painting depicts a hunt in full cry in pursuit of its fox. It is typical of Seymour’s hunting pieces, in a style which was taken by such followers as Francis Sartorius and Thomas Butler, and is carefully observed and meticulously painted.
Seymour gained a favourable and great reputation for his pictures of racehorses and hunting scenes, many of which were engraved by Thomas Burford and Richard Houston. By 1739 he was ‘reckoned the finest draughtsman in his way [of horses, hounds etc.] in the whole world’ (Universal Spectator, 1739), and he was certainly preferred to his chief rival, John Wootton, by many sporting patrons.