Edmund Bristow

(1787 – 1876)

Sporting and animal painter who lived at Windsor, where he was patronised by the Duke of Clarence, later William IV, and other members of the court.  He exhibited only 7 works at the Royal Academy between 1809 and 1829; also exhibited at the British Institute and Suffolk Street. Edmund painted sporting scenes, animals, portraits, rustic genre and landscapes in a style which belongs more to the era of Morland and Ibbetson than to the Victorian period. Bristow was a recluse by nature, and disliked patronage so much that he would often refuse to sell his pictures.  He died in such complete obscurity at the age of 88 that the Art Journal, writing his obituary, could not discover anything to say about him.