P1363 19th Century English Rare Otter Hunting Scene Oil on Canvas after a print by John Charlton

A hunter and his dogs close in on their prey. Unusually, this is an otter hunt and the little feller looks like he still has a chance to escape. And the dogs pictured are indeed classic otter hounds. A quintessential 19th Century English scene. Oil on canvas. 22 x 30.

Unsigned but on the back, marked H.C. Allen, Artists Colourman, Birkenhead. (near Liverpool, UK) There is an almost identical print in existence. The artist credited in the print was John Charlton, the well known Victorian painter of military and hunting scenes. (Otter Hunting in Cumberland, the Otter cornered. Illustration for The Graphic, 12 October 1889.) Our feeling is that this painting was copied or inspired by the print.