Prize Bull
William Henry Davis (c.1786 - 1865)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1855 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
510 x 670 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609119
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Prize Bull, by William Henry Davis (c.1786 – 1865), signed and dated bottom left: W. H. Davis 1855. Portrait of a prize bull, brown with white markings, in profile to the left. In landscape setting, fencing and trees to both sides. One of a set of sixteen portraits by William Henry Davis of Hereford cattle reared at Cronkhill by Richard Noel-Hill, 5th Baron Berwick (1800-1861). In 1855, Richard, 5th Lord Berwick, exhibited at the Paris International Show where his bull 'Napoleon’ won a prize for superior merit and ‘Walford’, the sire of 'Napoleon' was awarded the gold medal for the best bull of any breed at the exhibition.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust in 1947 with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Signed and dated bottom left: W H Davies 1855
Makers and roles
William Henry Davis (c.1786 - 1865), artist
References
Laing 2009: Alastair Laing, "A Bovine Paucity and Lack of Esteem", National Trust Arts/Buildings/Collections Bulletin, Summer Issue, July 2009, p.3