Philip Eustace Stretton

Philip Stretton (1865–1919) was an animal and sporting painter working actively between 1882 and 1919. He predominantly painted in oil and water-colour and he exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1884 and 1904 and latterly at the Suffolk Street Galleries in London.


Most notably known for his canine portraits..

..I love this one entitled "Left in Charge".

Stretton was working in a convention cultivated and refined by Sir Edwin Landseer, whose remarkable animal paintings had an enormous impact on Stretton, both in terms of style and subject matter. In particular, it was his approach to the subject which caught the attention of the newly wealthy Victorian middle-class.


Inspired by Landseer, Stretton's work remains popular today, both because of his success in capturing light and colour and because of his selection of sentimental animal scenes as the focal point of much of his work.