Deer stealers pursued by sleuth hounds
1875
- Gallery location
- Not on display
About this work
Rivière was a child prodigy who at the age of eleven exhibited two pictures at the British Institution and he began showing at the Royal Academy when he was only eighteen. He was a noted animalier who spent hours at the London Zoo studying and drawing animals. This work was inspired by the unfair gaming laws that prohibited the populace from hunting for food on crown land in medieval times. Although the focus of the picture is the wounded hound, there is a sense of the desperation of the thieves. The inequity of such laws inspired the folkloric hero Robin Hood.
Artwork Details
Purchased, 1876
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited