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Lot Essay
This huge pastel was commissioned by the Southwold Hunt from Cecil Aldin in order to commemorate over 40 years of service by their Master of the Hunt, Edward Preston Rawnsley. Founded in 1823 by the Hon. George Pelham, and still hunting today, the Southwold Hunt is based in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds covering ground extending from Market Rasen Racecourse in the North West to the coast in the East. Rawnsley presided over the hunt from 1880 to 1920, and on the evidence of this picture he was clearly still a skilled horseman when he retired. Due to the nature of the commission we can assume that these were years of success for the Hunt, and the selection of Cecil Aldin as the artist is testimony to his skill in depicting hunting scenes.
Aldin himself was a keen huntsman and his love of the chase shines through in the care he has taken in animating both the horse and the hounds, capturing the speed of the pursuit. He has also managed to encapsulate the feel of the landscape of the Wolds, with its tempestuous skys and wide open fields marked out by dykes and low-lying walls. Pastel is a difficult medium to work in on such a large scale but Aldin has managed to utilise it here to perfection.
Aldin himself was a keen huntsman and his love of the chase shines through in the care he has taken in animating both the horse and the hounds, capturing the speed of the pursuit. He has also managed to encapsulate the feel of the landscape of the Wolds, with its tempestuous skys and wide open fields marked out by dykes and low-lying walls. Pastel is a difficult medium to work in on such a large scale but Aldin has managed to utilise it here to perfection.