End of a Perfect Day – Hunting drawing by British Sporting artist Lionel Edwardscirca 1910

LIONEL EDWARDS (1878-1966) The End of a Perfect Day or – The Return of the Cut ‘em down Captains! Signed with monogram; inscribed with title on the reverse Pencil and pen and ink 13.5 by 22 cm., 5 ¼ by 8 ¾ in. (frame size 30 by 38 cm., 11 ¾ by 15 in.) Provenance: Capt M. Powell Lionel Edwards was born in Clifton, the son of a doctor. He studied in London at the South Kensington Schools and later at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and Frank Calderon’s School of Animal Painting. He became one of the best known equestrian and sporting artists of the 20th Century. In 1905 he moved to Radley in Oxfordshire and later to Worcestershire. During the Great War he volunteered as a Remount Purchasing Officer along with his contemporaries, Cecil Aldin and Sir Alfred Munnings. Working his oil and watercolour, many of his pictures were worked from his many sketches made on the spot. He also worked as an illustrator for many publications such as The Graphic and Bystander and wrote and illustrated a great number of books. He was fortunate to be able to combine his painting with his passion for fox hunting, hunting with almost every pack in the country. The present work bears the stamp for the Bystander magazine on the reverse and may have been used as an illustration. The magazine ran until 1940 when it combined with The Tatler.