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(b Scaleby, nr. Carlisle, 30 Oct. 1733; d Brompton, Middlesex [now in London], 8 Mar. 1807). English animal painter. He began his career as an apprentice to Samuel Scott, the marine painter, but turned to the painting of horses, making a name with ‘portraits’ of celebrated racers. In occasional large canvases he contrived his own blend of horse and history painting (The Election of Darius, c.1772, York AG). His son, William Sawrey Gilpin (1761/2–1843), began his career as a watercolourist but turned to landscape gardening, a field in which he had great success, in spite of his lack of professional training. The Revd William Gilpin (1724–1804), brother of Sawrey, was a writer, draughtsman, and printmaker, one of the most important advocates of the Picturesque.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)


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