Mischevious Terriers

Oil on canvas, signed.

Provenance: From the Estate of Celebrity Clarivoyant Jean Dixon.

Painting size: 24” x 20”
Frame size: 31” x 35.5”

Goerge Armfield, known as George Armfield Smith until 1840, flourished from 1840-1875, as a London painter of dogs, especially terriers chasing birds, cats or mice. Armfield also painted landscapes, dead game, birds and other wild animals. His small dog pictures often passed off as Landseer.

He trained with his father, the portrait painter William Armfield Hobday (1771-1831), and exhibited his first painting at the British Institute in 1839. For the next twenty years he exhibited both there and at the Royal Academy. His work was also shown at Suffolk Street exhibtions. A prolific painter, Armfield worked continuously, even as his eyesight failed, with the aid of a magnifying glass well into old age.

An Edward Armfield also painted similar dog pictures, and may have been related to George.

Sources:

Wood, Dictionary of Victorian Painters.

Askart.com and Cotai Fine Art