On the Moors

On the Moors is a classic sporting painting by Richard Ansdell, combining his favourite themes of dogs and the Scottish landscape.

The picture features two gun dogs, with the dog in the foreground holding a dead ptarmigan in its mouth. As these game birds are only found in the UK in the highest mountains in the Scottish Highlands, the location of the scene is most likely to be in the Cairngorms, a few miles south of Inverness.

Ansdell trained as a painter at Liverpool Academy of Art and exhibited at the Royal Academy in London every year from 1836 until his death in 1885. Although he lived in London, he visited Scotland every summer, often accompanying shooting parties. His accomplished paintings of landscapes and animals were popular with hunting and shooting people.

On the Moors is the first work by the artist to enter a public institution in Scotland, and will be the first painting in the gallery to reflect the local history and culture of field sports.