• Welcome to PaintingMania.com
  • Hello, New customer? Start here.
  • Briton Riviere
    Aug 14, 1840 - Apr 20, 1920
  • An Old World Wanderer - Briton Riviere was an animal painter, and was widely regarded as the successor of Landseer. He was also one of the few painters with an Oxford University Degree. He was the son of a well known artist. Riviere lived near to London Zoo, where he spent much time studying the physiology of animals. He painted glorified, romanticised pictures of wild animals. Another speciality was sentimental, rather humanised paintings of dogs, which found a considerable market.
Shop by Art Gallery
An Old World Wanderer
  • Pin It
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Enlarge
  • An Old World Wanderer

  • Briton Riviere
  • Standard size
    We offer original aspect ratio sizes
  • Price
  • Qty
  • 30 X 40 in
  • $557.95
  • 36 X 48 in
  • $738.95
  • 48 X 72 in
  • $1,405.95
  • If listed sizes are not in proportion to the original, don't worry, just choose which size is similar to what you want, we can offer oil paintings in a suitable size, painted in proportion to the original.
  • If you would like the standard size, please let us know. Need a Custom Size?
  • line
  • 1887
    Oil on canvas
    108 x 172.7 cm

    A mythological scene, set in a seascape. In the foreground is a beach, with hundreds of various types of gull, both on the sand, and perched on a large seaweed-covered rock. By the edge of the shore, on the right, is a young man, dressed only in a short toga-like costume with one shoulder covered; he holds a spear in his right hand. Behind him, just off the coast, is a vessel similar to a Viking longship, with its many oars in the water. In the background on the left are sheer cliffs, with seagulls wheeling around in the sky.

    Why settle for a paper print when you can add sophistication to your rooms with a high quality 100% hand-painted oil painting on canvas at wholesale price? Order this beautiful oil painting today! that's a great way to impress friends, neighbors and clients alike.

  • 100% hand-painted oil painting on artist grade canvas. No printing or digital imaging techniques are used.
  • Additional 2 inch blank border around the edge.
  • No middle people, directly ship to the world.
  • In stock items ship immediately, usually ships in 3 to 10 days.
  • You can order any painting in any size as your requests.
  • $12.95 shipping charge for small size (e.g., size <= 20 x 24 in).
  • The cheapest shipping rate from DHL, UPS, USPS, etc.
  • Canvas stretched on wood bars for free.
    - Need special frame for oil painting? Please contact us.
  • Send you a digital copy via email for your approval before shipping.
  • 45-day Satisfaction Guaranteed and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.
Prev An Exile of the '45 Androcles and the Lion Next
Would you like to publicly share your opinion of this painting?
Be the first to critique this painting.

Other paintings by Briton Riviere:

An Anxious Moment
An Anxious Moment
An Exile of the '45
An Exile of the '45
Androcles and the Lion
Androcles and the Lion
Aphrodite
Aphrodite
Briton RiviereBriton Riviere was best known as an animal painter, but he also painted some striking genre and history paintings, often including animals. Born in London in 1840, he came from an artistic family of Huguenot descent: his grandfather was a student at the Royal Academy Schools, as was his father, William Riviere, who went on to become a drawing-master at Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire. Young Briton, who had already started sketching animals at London Zoo, and in 1851 exhibited oil paintings of kittens at the British Institution, was educated at Cheltenham from 1851 to 1859. In 1857, when still at school, he had three paintings accepted by the Royal Academy ("Death of Mr Briton Riviere").

At this point his father moved to Oxford, where he established art as an area of study within the university. Having moved there with his family in 1859, Riviere went on to take his BA and MA degrees at St Mary Hall, Oxford. His connection with St Mary's continued and stood him in good stead: he would be granted the honorary degree of DCL (Doctor of Civil Law) in 1891, and later still an honorary fellowship at Oriel College, with which St Mary Hall was associated. William Fenn believed that "to the cultivation of his mind is due, in great part, the completeness and refinement which, amongst other qualities, especially distinguish his work".

As a young man, Riviere came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and Millais. But after his promising start, success proved elusive, and he had to diversify by taking on illustrative work — not that this was necessarily a step down, since so many important artists at this time were producing illustrations. However, in his case it included making decorative initials for Punch, which was perhaps not what he had expected to be doing. Applying himself to animal painting, and studying with the Scottish painters John Pettie and Sir William Quiller Orchardson, both helped him to firmer ground: "A sequence of animal paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy assured his growing fame" (Reynolds), particularly because they were often engraved. In 1878 he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1880 became a full Academician. After Millais' death in 1896, he only just missed being voted president of the Academy (Sir Edward Poynter won the vote by a narrow margin), although, as Simon Reynolds points out, this was an honour that he would probably not have enjoyed, since he was of "retiring disposition." The same point was made in his Times obituary. Later on, too, his failing eyesight would have been a problem.

As an animal-painter, Riviere "tended to imbue his animals with para-human character", and did not always escape sentimentality — although he could be humorous as well. While animals did generally feature in his works, his skills were not at all limited to them. At his best, he could produce "a most happy combination of classic lore and animal painting" (Fenn 145), and in later years he became interested in the idea of evolution and was drawn to create wild landscapes like Beyond Man's Footsteps, very different from his popular scenes of children with their pets.