William Henry Hamilton Trood

(British, 1860-1899)

Motherhood - A Springer Spaniel and Her Litter

Footnotes

Trood was an animal painter and sculptor, very often of dog subjects and hunting scenes. From his home at 13 Trafalgar Studios, Kings Road, London, he kept a menagerie in the garden, until the neighbours complained of the noise. After this complaint, he reduced his collection to a fox, a badger, and an otter, all of which he allowed to run loose in his studio. He once tried to hypnotise a dog into staying still.

The hallmarks of Trood's work are tight painting technique with great attention to anatomical detail and often composed with Victorian sentimentality. This skill, but also his emotive subjects, appealed to the public of the day and he enjoyed success as a commercial artist popularising his works through print. Publishers such as Arthur Tooth & Sons were quick to see his public popularity, using illustrated catalogues to show his work engraved by S. A. Edwards.

Trood exhibited extensively at institutions including the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham (4); the Dudley Gallery (1); the Grosvenor Gallery (2); the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (2); the Manchester City Art Gallery (6); the Royal Academy (23); the Royal Society of British Artists (20); the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (4); and Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery (17).

Today Trood's works can be seen in The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. And one of the American Kennel Club's most famous paintings is his 1888, A Domestic Scene.