Samuel Howitt (c.1765-1822) (attributed to)
Wild Sports of the East [Frontispiece Illustration with Tiger]
London: c. 1809
Watercolor and gouache on paper, watermarked WELO 1809
17.5 x 22 inches, sheet
11.5 x 15.5 inches, image
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Frontispiece Painting for Wild Sports of the East
Attributed to Samuel Howitt
Attributed to Samuel Howitt
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Watercolor frontispiece design of a tiger in India, on an outcropping of land with native palms and ferns. It was expertly painted by the famous sporting artist Samuel Howitt for an edition of "Oriental Field Sports; Being a Complete, Detailed, and Accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East." This colorplate set of 40 aquatint prints was published in various editions in the early 19th Century, the first oblong folio edition dated 1807. The book was a comprehensive study of the wild life, natural flora, and big game hunting experiences of the British and native peoples in India in the period of Regency England.
This image and the other illustrations in the series were rendered for the book by Howitt based on the on-site sketches of Captain Thomas Williamson, who also provided anecdotes for the text. The book was published by Edward Orme.
Samuel Howitt was an accomplished British sporting artist, whose other works included horse prints, landscapes and illustrations for an edition of Aesop's Fables. Raised a country gentleman, he turned to art as a means of increasing his income, specializing in vibrant light-filled paintings of the sporting and animal subjects he knew so well. He frequently sketched at the Menagerie in the Tower of London. Howitt's style is occasionally mistaken for that of his brother-in-law Thomas Rowlandson.
According to Schwerdt, "Oriental Field Sports" is "the most beautiful book on Indian sport in existence" Schwerdt II, p.297. See also Abbey, Travel 427; Tooley (1954) 508.
Reference:
"Flora and Fauna Labels." The Whitworth Gallery. 1998. http://www.whitworth.man.ac.uk/exhibitions/Flora_and_Fauna_labels.html