"The Whaddon Chase"

by Lionel Edwards

Gouttelette, Open Edition Print

Paper Size: 20 x 16 ins (50 x 40 cm)

Image Size: 12 x 8 ins (30 x 20 cm)
This is a characteristically evocative sporting scene by one of the twentieth centurys greatest sporting artists. Lionel Edwards hunted throughout his adult life with huge enthusiasm, and his knowledge of the intricacies of fox hunting was second to none. His passion for the sport is fully evident in this marvellous painting. The Whaddon Chase, centred around the village of Whaddon, in Buckinghamshire, is one of the most ancient and prestigious hunts in Britain. When William the Conqueror annexed many of Englands manors in the late eleventh century, he assumed jurisdiction over the hunt, and it was to flourish through the centuries. The hunts royal connection was still in evidence in the 1930s, when Edward VIII rode with the Whaddon Chase on several occasions. In 1986 it merged with the Bicester Hunt to form a new hunt spanning the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Despite the great changes necessitated by the Hunting Act of 2004, the hunts followers have vowed to keep alive the spirit and tradition so wonderfully captured here by Edwards



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