Oil Painting Gordon Setter with Irish Red White Gun Dogs In Scottish Highlands





Click image to enlarge



Description


19th Century Masterpiece Oil Painting Gordon Setter with Irish Red & White Gun Dogs in the Scottish Highlands
By Colin Graeme British, fl. 1858–1910)

Subject & Medium
This is a distinguished late-Victorian c1880 sporting and hunting portrait, depicting two elite gundogs — a Gordon Setter and an Irish Red & White Setter — shown half-length and in profile, poised in the field and instinctively aligned toward the scent of game. The composition captures the precise moment of heightened awareness familiar to experienced hunters: bodies still, eyes intent, senses fully engaged.
The painting is executed in oil on an original Winsor & Newton prepared board, a commercially produced artist’s support widely used by professional painters in Britain during the late 19th century. The choice of support allowed for fine detail, durability, and ease of transport — qualities valued by artists producing commissioned hunting and sporting works for country-house patrons.

Composition & Technique
Graeme constructs the composition with deliberate economy. By limiting the view to the dogs’ heads and shoulders, he eliminates distraction and intensifies psychological presence. The eye is drawn immediately to the dogs’ expressions — alert, intelligent, and resolute — a hallmark of accomplished gundog portraiture.
Technically, the work displays a sophisticated layered method. A warm mid-tone ground establishes unity; translucent glazes model form and depth; and finely controlled, directional brushwork articulates coat texture and feathering. Selective impasto highlights animate key features such as the eyes, nose, and lips, lending vitality without excess.
The Scottish Highland hunting landscape is rendered with broader, more atmospheric handling: rolling moorland, distant hills, and open sky dissolve gently into cool greys and mauves, ensuring spatial recession while reinforcing the upland shooting context. Heather in the foreground anchors the scene in authentic hunting terrain.

About the Breeds
Gordon Setter: Developed for strength, endurance, and reliability in upland hunting, particularly in Scottish terrain. The breed’s dense black-and-tan coat and noble head are rendered here with anatomical precision and tonal richness.
Irish Red & White Setter: An older and rarer setter variety, prized for its stamina, agility, and keen nose in rough cover. Its lighter coat provides chromatic balance and visual rhythm within the composition.
Together, these breeds represent the pinnacle of Victorian sporting dog culture — not merely decorative animals, but highly trained hunting partners bred for performance in the field.

About the Artist
Colin Graeme was a specialist British sporting painter, born into an exceptional artistic family. He was the son of the painter Robert Henry Roe and surrounded by siblings and relatives who were also artists. Initially signing his works Colin Graeme Roe, he later adopted the abbreviated signature Colin Graeme to distinguish himself professionally.
Graeme became particularly admired for his depictions of setters and other gundogs, combining anatomical accuracy with painterly refinement. His works are represented in regional public collections, including museums in Sheffield and Dudley, and remain keenly collected. At auction, his paintings have achieved strong prices, with a recorded result exceeding $14,000 USD at Christie’s London, reflecting sustained market confidence.

Signed
Signed lower corner: Colin Graeme.
The verso retains a Winsor & Newton prepared-panel label, consistent with late-19th-century manufacture and reinforcing the painting’s period authenticity.

Historical Significance
This work belongs to the golden age of British hunting and sporting art, when field sports were integral to country-house life and visual culture. Gundog portraits functioned as both records of prized stock and symbols of sporting identity, often displayed in gun rooms, libraries, and shooting lodges.
Paired setter portraits in Highland settings are especially desirable, combining breed portraiture with landscape and reinforcing the prestige of upland shooting — one of the most respected forms of British hunting. Such works are now increasingly scarce, particularly in well-preserved, cabinet-scale examples of this quality.

Dimensions Framed):
Height: 36 cm
Width: 31 cm
Depth: 5 cm
An elegant, intimate scale that reads strongly at close quarters and integrates beautifully into curated interiors.

Framed
Housed in a later gilt gesso decorative frame, chosen to complement the painting’s Victorian character. The work is ready to hang, with hanging cord attached verso. The frame enhances presence without overpowering the image and may be sympathetically conserved to suit individual taste.

Collecting Context — Hunting & Sporting Art
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hunting paintings were avidly collected by landed gentry, Masters of Hounds, shooting patrons, and prominent families. Houses such as the Rothschilds, estates like Badminton (Dukes of Beaufort), and numerous Yorkshire and Scottish sporting estates established the benchmark for gundog portraiture. Their collections shaped taste and cemented the genre’s place in British art history.

Provenance
Acquired from the notable Yorkshire based auction house Hartleys Auction, Lot 427.
Formerly in a private Yorkshire vendor collection, a region historically associated with sporting estates and hunting culture.
Curated and catalogued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant Ltd.
Exhibited: Victorian Sporting Art: Dogs, Field, and Country Life, Famous Lord Hill Museum Jan 2026
Public market appearances: Offered and recorded on LiveAuctioneers, New York Elizabeth (auction
Archival confirmation (auction catalogue page, museum catalogue entry) is being assembled to complete the documentary record.

Condition Report
Offered in good used condition, commensurate with age and original materials.
Paint surface stable overall, with some light foxing and small, localized paint losses visible upon close inspection.
No evidence of active flaking noted at time of inspection.
Support remains sound; no obvious modern structural intervention visible from surface view.
Frame shows expected age-related wear including surface abrasion, craquelure, and minor gesso losses.


Why You’ll Love It
Museum-quality hunting subject in a refined cabinet scale
Rare paired-setter composition with authentic Highland setting
Strong provenance, exhibition history.

Display & Placement Advice
Ideal for a study, gun room, library, or country-house interior, or as part of a curated sporting salon hang. Best displayed under low-glare directional lighting with UV protection to preserve colour and surface integrity.



Reserve: $5,292.00

Shipping:

Domestic: Shipping rates are determined by destination

International: Foreign shipping rates are determined by destination. International shipping may be subject to VAT.

Combined shipping: Please ask about combined shipping for multiple lots before bidding.

Location: This item ships from United Kingdom

Your purchase is protected:
In the rare event that the item did not conform to the lot description in the sale, Jasper52 specialists are here to help. Buyers may return the item for a full refund provided you notify Jasper52 within 5 days of receiving the item.