Blinks, Thomas 1860 - 1912There are 2 products.
English Equestrian and Hunting Scenes Painter
Thomas Blinks was born in Maidstone, Kent in 1853. He showed interest in becoming an artist at an early age, but his father, who was a butcher, felt it was a poor profession and insisted he find another trade. Blinks worked briefly as an apprentice to a tailor, but eventually pursued art. It is unknown if he ever had any formal training, but he did have a strong natural talent for portraying the anatomy and action of animals.
By 1877, Thomas Blinks lived in Hawkshurst near Cranbrook, Kent with his wife Louisa. They had three children and eventually moved to London. It was stated by Blinks that he studied the movement of horses at Tattershalls, an equestrian auctioneer, but it is unclear when in his career he spent time there. It is possible he began his keen observation of sporting dogs and horses in Kent on the farms and at hunts.
Thomas Blinks was a master painter of horse and sporting dogs during the Victorian era. Blinks’ works were first seen in London at the Dudley Gallery in 1881, then at the Royal British Academy in 1882. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and Royal Institute of Oil Painters the following year. His hunting and racing pictures were frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. Paintings by Thomas Blinks were well received by the public and by his peers. He was never commissioned by Queen Victoria or the consort Prince Albert, who were both active supporters of the arts and interested of sporting subjects as was the fashion. But Thomas Blinks was commissioned by King George V, Victoria’s successor, to paint him on a hunt. This no doubt helped advance his status as an artist. His career may have advanced further, if the president of the Royal Academy had not spoken out against sporting subjects in painting.
Thomas Blinks was talented at capturing the movement of animals, showing the working of muscles and capturing the character of dogs in the field and horses in action. Blinks worked in oil and watercolour and he is admired still today for his freedom of brushwork and polished finish. Many of his works are large scale to suit the high ceilings of aristocratic homes of the day.
Thomas Blinks’ paintings can be seen in the private collections of Queen Elizabeth II, the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery and Preston Manor, Brighton. Eighty of Blinks’ works were reproduced in print form, some by the pre eminent engraver Joseph Bishop Pratt.
Thomas Blinks was born in Maidstone, Kent in 1853. He showed interest in becoming an artist at an early age, but his father, who was a butcher, felt it was a poor profession and insisted he find another trade. Blinks worked briefly as an apprentice to a tailor, but eventually pursued art. It is unknown if he ever had any formal training, but he did have a strong natural talent for portraying the anatomy and action of animals.
By 1877, Thomas Blinks lived in Hawkshurst near Cranbrook, Kent with his wife Louisa. They had three children and eventually moved to London. It was stated by Blinks that he studied the movement of horses at Tattershalls, an equestrian auctioneer, but it is unclear when in his career he spent time there. It is possible he began his keen observation of sporting dogs and horses in Kent on the farms and at hunts.
Thomas Blinks was a master painter of horse and sporting dogs during the Victorian era. Blinks’ works were first seen in London at the Dudley Gallery in 1881, then at the Royal British Academy in 1882. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and Royal Institute of Oil Painters the following year. His hunting and racing pictures were frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. Paintings by Thomas Blinks were well received by the public and by his peers. He was never commissioned by Queen Victoria or the consort Prince Albert, who were both active supporters of the arts and interested of sporting subjects as was the fashion. But Thomas Blinks was commissioned by King George V, Victoria’s successor, to paint him on a hunt. This no doubt helped advance his status as an artist. His career may have advanced further, if the president of the Royal Academy had not spoken out against sporting subjects in painting.
Thomas Blinks was talented at capturing the movement of animals, showing the working of muscles and capturing the character of dogs in the field and horses in action. Blinks worked in oil and watercolour and he is admired still today for his freedom of brushwork and polished finish. Many of his works are large scale to suit the high ceilings of aristocratic homes of the day.
Thomas Blinks’ paintings can be seen in the private collections of Queen Elizabeth II, the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery and Preston Manor, Brighton. Eighty of Blinks’ works were reproduced in print form, some by the pre eminent engraver Joseph Bishop Pratt.
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