William Weekes

The canvas is original. There is some minor craquelure to the paint surface. There is some extremely minor frame abrasion to the extreme edges and some very light surface dirt to the lighter areas of pigment. Otherwise the work is in good condition and ready to hang. Ultraviolet light revels a few tiny flecks of cosmetic retouching to the area of snow directly below centre and to the background just right of centre. Held in a decorative gold painted frame in fair condition. Under glass and unexamined out of frame.
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William Weekes is best known for his genre paintings and the humorous portrayal of animals, influenced greatly by the most celebrated animal painter of the nineteenth century, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. Weekes delighted in personifying them and placing them in situations particular to humans, as seen in the paintings You are sitting on my Nest (1885), Prattlers and Cracklers (1888) and The Patient and the Quack (1890).  He was born into an artistic family; his father was the sculptor Henry Weekes R.A., his elder brother the genre painter, Henry Weekes Jnr. and he spent the majority of his working life in London at 21 Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill.

Two of His Flock is one of William Weekes' finest works and dates to the 1870s. The highly dramatic rendering of a shepherd and his children either returning home or going in search of the missing flock, or worse the missing mother, amidst a fierce snowstorm is handled with extreme virtuosity and rare brilliance. The setting sun glowing strongly through the upper right of the composition, and the homestead in the upper left distance, further heighten the narrative. The pyramidal composition of the figure group provides an immediate and powerful focus to the painting, drawing the viewer into the very heart of the dramatic subject matter. This is further heightened by the sheep dog to the left of the figures that loyally gazes upwards towards his master sensing the danger and distress of the situation. This element in particular is highly reminiscent of Briton Riviere, whose paintings often portray dogs as companions in adversity as seen in works such as Fidelity (1869) which hangs in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight and The Long Sleep (1896), which depicts an old man dead in his chair, watched by his two faithful dogs. Two of His Flock is a wonderfully enduring and powerful image, executed with an acute sense of detail and skill, presenting to the viewer an artist working at the very height of his career.