Loading

Briton Rivière began his career depicting grand scenes from Shakespearean plays and infamous battles. In his fifties, he turned to animal-subjects and never really looked back. He said: “I have always been a great lover of dogs but I have worked at them so much that I've grown tired of having them about me. However, you can never paint a dog unless you are fond of it. I never work from a dog without the assistance of a man who is well acquainted with animals ... The only way to paint wild animals is to gradually accumulate a large number of studies and a great knowledge of the animal itself, before you can paint its picture ... I paint from dead animals as well as from live ones. I have had the body of a fine lioness in my studio ... I have done a great deal of work in the dissecting rooms at the Zoological Gardens from time to time."

Details

  • Title: The King Drinks
  • Creator: Briton Rivière RA
  • Date Created: 1881
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: Photo credit: © Royal Academy of Arts, London; photographer: John Hammond
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Royal Academy Picture Library number: PL000099
  • Physical dimensions: Height: 62.5 cm, width: 93 cm

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Flash this QR Code to get the app
Google apps