Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905)
Pointer, Setter, and Quail, 1871
signed, dated, and inscribed "A.F. Tait, N.Y., 1871" lower right
oil on canvas, 14 by 22 in.
signed and inscribed "No. 22 / A.F. Tait / Y.M.C.A. 23rd St / N.Y. / 1871" on back of canvas

Tait's register entry for this work reads, "[No.] 22 [1871] Two Dogs (Pointer & Setter) & Quail 14 x 22 by Bogardus. to be [$250.00] nett--Paid May 30/71," according to Henry Marsh's checklist of the artist's works. Abraham Bogardus was an early New York photographer, daguerreotypist, and art dealer who handled Tait's paintings from his studio and gallery at 1153 Broadway near Madison Square Park.

Depicting a red setter and a pointer on a small covey of bobwhite quail, this bright and lively masterwork reveals the artist at the peak of his painting abilities. It is a classic Tait quail hunting scene with the setter honoring the pointer.

Known as one of America's earliest sporting artists, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was born in Liverpool, England, in 1819. From an early age, he was interested in both art and the outdoors. Tait worked for the firm of Thomas Agnew, a famous art dealer and lithographer in Manchester, trained in lithography and drawing, and explored the open land around the city. However, many of the most beautiful vistas and hunting grounds were private and off limits. While working for the art firm, Tait was exposed to the works of Edwin Landseer, among others.

In Liverpool, beginning in 1843, Tait spent time with fellow artist George Catlin, which may have whetted the young artist's appetite to explore life in America. Catlin had spent much of the previous decade living in the American West chronicling the lives of Native Americans, and Catlin's stories would have captivated the young and talented Tait.

In 1850 Tait came to America. By 1852 he was pursuing his interests in wildlife and hunting, working from a studio in New York City, but spending a great deal of time in the Adirondacks, where he acquired skills as an angler, hunter, and keen observer of wildlife. These skills were as important for Tait's art as his fine ability with brush and pigment, since they gave an authenticity to his portrayals of outdoor life which were virtually unrivaled at the time. His relative freedom to paint wherever he wanted in the vast public lands of New York was obviously liberating to the artist, who had felt confined by the strict laws governing trespassing and hunting on private property in England.

With this liberation and experience of the outdoors, Tait's artistic career flourished. In 1852, only two years after Tait arrived in New York, Currier and Ives purchased the first of many works from the budding artist. In that same year, Tait was asked to hang a half-dozen works at the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition. By 1854 he had achieved an associate membership and four years later he became a full member. Editions of Tait's works for Currier and Ives were reproduced by the thousands and formed some of America's most iconic images of the Victorian era. The exceptionally popular "American Field Sports" series showcased Tait's abilities as an upland bird and dog painter and included the four lithographs "A Chance for Both Barrels," "Flushed," "On a Point," and "Retrieving." These hunting scenes, along with his camping and woodland scenes, resonated with the public as an integral part of the American experience and continue to inform us of our history as a nation. Seminal works by Tait, such as "An Anxious Moment," "A Tight Fix," and "Trappers at Fault: Looking for the Trail," have become embedded as part of our heritage and serve as signposts along our path as a nation.

Today, Tait's wilderness, frontier, and wildlife scenes hang in some of the most prominent museums and private collections, including the permanent collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts, the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, among others.

Provenance: The Sportsman's Gallery
Robert S. Doochin Collection

Literature: Warder H. Cadbury and Henry F. Marsh, "Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait: Artist of the Adirondacks," 1986, p. 216, no. 71.13, illustrated.

framed, 21 1/2 by 29 1/2 in.

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