WILLIAM STRUTT

Ernest Whitcutt of 'Cowies Hill', Natal, in the late 19th century; his daughter Mrs McDonald; thence by descent in South Africa

Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1889, cat. 494 as 'These Little Pigs went to Market', illus

Good condition. UV inspection reveals areas of retouching to figure's face, leg's and boot's and to the piglets and against rebate edge on lower and upper left of work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

William Strutt was the first Royal Academy trained artist to come to Melbourne in the 1850s.¹  Something of a child artist-prodigy, he had entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of fourteen.

In Australia, Strutt's skills as a draughtsman and painter were soon acknowledged.  However, most of his major Australian oil paintings were completed after he returned to England in 1862.  The now famous Black Thursday (1864) and Bushrangers  (1887) were based on events during his Australian years - in 1851 and 1852 respectively.  A Sound Investment was first exhibited in London in 1889 and clearly reflects Strutt's experience of pastoral life in 'the Colonies.

In fact Strutt's interest in animal painting seem to have first emerged in Melbourne: his Eagle Hawk (circa 1860) was one of the first purchases made by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and there is a very handsome camel in his famous portrait of Robert O'Hara Burke.  Animal genre, often with a humorous character, became one of his most successful themes during the 1880s, with examples admired by reviewers at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists and in exhibitions outside London as far away as Sydney.  A Sound Investment with its droll title, suggestion of narrative and lively characterisation of human and animal subjects alike, is a fine and typical example.  It was described at the time as a 'humouresque', in which the pair of 'little porkers' were each 'trying to give tongue with the most ear-splitting squeak.'²  Other animal subjects in Australian public collections included the pair of delightful canine genre pieces in the National Gallery of Australia and another somewhat reluctant pig, Checkmate, in the National Gallery of Victoria.

For an antipodean view, the golden grasslands, blue hills and drover on horseback in the middle distance would have seemed very familiar.  The unusually high key of Strutt's palette in this painting and the almost impressionist heath haze in the landscape, must have stood out on the walls in its first London exhibition and anticipate in a remarklable way both the style and themes of the Heidelberg School painters a generation later.

1.  H. Curnow in J. Kerr (ed.), The Dictionary of Australian Artists, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, pp. 767-9
2.  Topical Times, 20 April 1889