EARL, Thomas Percy

1874 - 1947

Thomas Percy Earl was born at 21 Newman Street, Marylebone, London on 11 March 1874, one of the renowned Earl family of sporting and animal painters, his father was George Earl (1823-29 November 1908), who was known principally as a painter of sporting dogs and who is also remembered for his important series of head studies 'Champion Dogs of England', his mother was Frances Louise née Rawlins (c1844-1 December 1927), who married at Marylebone in 1871. In 1881, Thomas was a 7-year-old, living at Marylebone with his parents and siblings including his half-sister, 18-year-old Alice Maud Earl (1863-1943), who was also a renowned animal painter. Thomas Percy Earl was an accomplished artist, whose horse portraiture is recognised as amongst the best of the period with most of his work being commissioned by hunting families, consequently he does not appear to have exhibited his work in public galleries. He married at Kensington, London in 1916, Kate Grace Burk (1882-1929) and spent some time in New York. In addition to the high quality of his paintings, they were well-composed and very natural, often including some favourite hounds, which set his work apart from the many horse portraitists of the day. He contributed some equestrian cartoons to 'Vanity Fair' and his painting 'Brown Betty' is in the collection of National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket, although he is not a Suffolk painter. In 1939, a widower and an artist painter, living at The Beeches, Devizes, Wiltshire and Thomas Percy Earl died at Tau Cross, West Lavington, Wiltshire on 17 November 1947 and buried at Seend, Wiltshire.

---

Works by This Artist