Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.261
Gallery Label:
Edmund Bristow exhibited sporadically in London from 1809 to 1838 but spent his entire life in the Windsor and Eton area. He was the son of a heraldic painter, and, although he received no formal art training, he made his mark at an early age when his patrons included the Duke of Clarence, the future William IV. Later in life, several of his paintings were purchased by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and are now in the Royal Collection. Bristow worked mainly on a small-scale and painted subjects ranging from still lifes and interior scenes to animals and local characters. Here, the artist depicts a lighthearted incident in which a rustic youth recounts his rat trapping adventures to several of his companions. The boy does so with such élan that even a black cat watches him with wide-eyed, rapt attention. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
