Henry Bernard Chalon

Essay:

Son of the Dutch engraver Jan Chalon (1749 - 95), Chalon studied at the RA Schools specializing in sporting and animal painting. He enjoyed a great deal of Royal patronage, first from Federica, Duchess of York in 1795 and later to the Prince Regent, Princess Charlotte and William IV. His work for the Royal family also led him to work for prominent figures in society but despite his popularity and regular entries to the RA (between 1792 and 1847) he never actually became a member. He is also recorded as exhibiting at the Briitish Institution.

He is best known for his equestrian and dog paintings but he is also known to have painted a few more unusual exotic menagerie paintings, mostly for the Royal family.

His daughter Maria, a miniaturist, also exhibited a great deal at the RA beetween 1819 and 1840 and then later as Mrs Henry Mosley between 1841 and 1866.

This painting, most likely a study of a menagerie subject is similar to the pair of paintings of monkeys and an emu, dated 1813 and sold at Sotheby's, 2nd May 2012, lots 197 and 198.

It is possible that the present work, as well as the paintings of monkeys and emus, are studies made in the Royal Menagerie. By the time the Prince Regent became George IV in 1820 his menagerie had grown to quite a size and included many exotic creatures which he had started to collect in 1811. The crowning glory of the collection was the Namibian giraffe that arrived in 1827 from Mehmit Ali, Pasha of Egypt. The first giraffe to have arrived in Britain, she was famously painted by Jacques-Laurent Agasse in 1827. The animals were kept in thatched houses at Sandpit Gate Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

Provenance:

Private Collection Cape Cod, Massachusetts.