ARTHUR WARDLE (British; 1864-1949).

Arthur Wardle (1864 - 1949) was a renowned English painter.

In the first two decades of the 20th Century, Arthur Wardle was one of the best known British animal painters. He portrayed an astonishing diversity of subjects with an engaging naturalism, and a masterly command of different media. Unlike most British animal and sporting artists who restricted themselves to horse and hound, deer and domesticated beasts, Wardle both drew and painted every mammal from elephant to mouse -- in watercolour, pastel, and oils.

Born in London, aged just sixteen Wardle had a piece displayed at the Royal Academy.Wardle was prolific; until 1936 he exhibited more than 100 works at the Royal Academy, as well as the Society of British Artists at Suffolk Street. He painted a variety of animal subjects with equal skill but his work may be divided into two categories, domestic and exotic; animals from overseas including leopards, polar bears and tigers such as The Deer-Stealer (1915) were painted from sketches that he made at London Zoo. He is considered equally proficient in oils, watercolours and pastels and was elected to the Pastel Society in 1911 and became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1922. In 1931 he held his first one man exhibition at the Fine Art Society and in 1935 the Vicar’s Gallery put on an exhibition of his work. He also exhibited in Paris.

His career was highly successful and his works continue to be sought after and widely reproduced on postcards, calendars and boxes of chocolates. He remains one of the widely known dog painters of the 19th and 20th Centuries.