Martin Theodore Ward was a popular British painter of animal portraits, particularly dogs, cattle and horses.
Ward was born into a renowned clique of artists. His father was the engraver, William Ward ARA (1766-1826), and his uncles included James Ward RA (1769-1859) and, by marriage, the notorious George Morland (1763-1804). As such, his early years at Edgware Road in London would’ve been interesting to say the least. It’s likely that his father taught him to draw with both a pencil and burin. Ward’s brother, William James Ward (1800-1840) is known to have studied under his father and became a mezzotint engraver to King George IV.
Animal painter, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA (1802-1873), provided further tuition and, by the age of 20, he’d debuted at the British Institution - his first major exhibition. Via his family, there were numerous opportunities for commissions - he painted the Rev. T. Lyster’s beloved dog ‘Tippoo’, a terrier owned by E. Tunno, two alpine mastiffs treasured by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones, and Lady Charlotte Denys’ favourite spaniel, ‘Frisk’ - among others. In 1820, his ‘A Terrier, The Property of a Gentleman’ was shown at the Royal Academy.
Several of his patrons were located in the north of England and, as such, he moved to Yorkshire for greater convenience. He lived initially in Doncaster before residing in Sheffield where he developed a reputation as one of the foremost animal painters in the country.
In this charming piece from around 1840, he’s depicted the splendid chestnut hunter ‘Thrumpton Lass’ along with a white cat. Thrumpton is a village in Nottinghamshire and a meeting place for the Quorn Hunt. The initials in the lower left, JJB or similar, probably relate to the owner.
Ward’s various successes led to increased wealth and, alas, “a social life revolving around disreputable inns” “and questionable company”. Mounting debts ensued and ultimately a spell in York Castle debtors’ prison. This self-inflicted fall from grace had grim repercussions as, during his incarceration, an opportunistic bailiff struck a deal for the exclusive rights to his work. In exchange for his early release, the bailiff would keep him in squalor, living on scraps, while essentially ‘farming’ his talent. Fortunately, he escaped this vile arrangement and took a local room with a white terrier for company.
Following a period whereby he produced a considerable amount of work for the officers of the ‘Carbineers’, Ward moved into the historic environs of the Old College in College Street, York - a stone’s throw from York Minster Cathedral. Here, “for 20 years he stuck to his easel” and “never went out of the city he had adopted”. He’d resolved to live a reclusive life, working solely for a close circle of friends.
Regarded as “eccentric” and a “character”, only a handful of locals were permitted to enter his studio - with countless commissions declined. His later work consisted predominantly of head studies, including of his loyal terrier ‘Joe’, who stuck by his side until the end. He died in extreme poverty.
In a lengthy obituary published in The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, no mention is made of his distinguished artistic relations, which would suggest that he kept this information private. It’s interesting to consider why.
Martin Theodore Ward is represented at the Yale Center for British Art, the York Art Gallery, and the Harris Museum & Art Gallery.
Exhibited
Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, British Institution.
Public Collections
Yale Center for British Art, York Art Gallery, Harris Museum & Art Gallery.
Timeline
1799
Born in Edgware Road, London, to William Ward ARA (1766-1826), a distinguished engraver to George IV, and Maria Morland, sister of George Morland (1763-1804). He was a nephew of James Ward (1769-1859), a painter of animals and ‘painter and engraver in Mezzotint to the Prince of Wales’.
Studied with Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA (1802-1873).
1819
Lived at Warren Street, London.
Debuted at the British Institution with ‘Group of Cattle’. He continued to exhibit fairly regularly until 1829 with a further work shown in 1858.
1820
Lived at Winchester Row, Paddington.
Debuted at the Royal Academy with ‘A Terrier, The Property of a Gentleman’ and ‘Vixen, A Favourite Terrier, The Property of the Rt. Hon. Charlotte Denys.’
1821
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Tippoo’, a spaniel owned by the ‘lady of the Rev. T. Lyster’ of Oldbury, Shropshire.
Commissioned to paint a portrait of a terrier owned by ‘E. Tunno Esq.’.
Commissioned to paint portraits of animals owned by ‘C. Clark Esq.’ of Bridgenorth, Shropshire.
1822
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Frisk’ a spaniel owned by Lady Charlotte Denys.
Commissioned to paint portraits of two alpine mastiffs owned by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones, 1st Baronet FRS, of Stanley Hall, Shropshire.
1823
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Frisk’ a spaniel owned by Lady Charlotte Denys.
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Faddle’ a spaniel owned by the ‘Rev. Sir Charles Anderson’.
1824
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Horace’ a greyhound owned by ‘E. Tunno Esq’.
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Mahomet’ a horse.
Debuted at the Royal Society of British Artists with ‘Portrait of Jerry, the Property of a Gentleman’. He continued to exhibit until 1830.
1825
Commissioned to paint a portrait of a mare owned by J. Barber Esq.
Commissioned to paint a portrait of ‘Flora’, an animal, owned by ‘F. R. West Esq’ of Cullingham Court.
Commissioned to paint a portrait of a hunter owned by ‘Captain Bayard’.
1826
Contributed to ‘The Sporting Annals’.
1828
Lived at Mornington Place, London.
1830
Lived at Mornington Place, London.
Moved to Shropshire.
1837
Contributed to ‘The Sporting Magazine’.
Moved to Doncaster
Moved to Sheffield.
1844
Declared bankrupt and, at some point, spent time in York Castle debtors’ prison.
Worked extensively for ‘Mr. Acton, of York’.
1851
Lived in York.
Produced a portrait of ‘Captain Thompson, in his uniform as an officer of the Carbineers’.
1854
Lived in the ‘Old College in College Street’, York, which is presumably the 15th-century, St William's College.
1874
Died in York.
Laid to rest in a private vault at York Cemetery following financial contributions from “Mr. George Acton, one of Mr. Ward's earlier patrons, Mr. Geo. Lovegrove, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. John Ingram”.
Obituary - The Sheffield Daily Telegraph
“Martin T. Ward the celebrated animal painter, died in York, on Friday morning, after a few days' illness. Mr. Ward was once a resident in Sheffield, and as there is than it perhaps not a town in the kingdom (with the solitary exception of the place in which he has died) that possesses and appreciates more the productions of his easel, something more than an ordinary reference to his death may be read with interest.
Little is known of Mr. Ward's early history, all his relatives, so far as the knowledge of his friends goes, having passed away. Admissions of his own made during his residence in York, however, lead to the belief that he was born some 75 years ago in Edgware Road, London, and that he gave early evidence of his love for art. After his ordinary schooling days he studied painting along with Landseer, and this probationary period passed he sought a subsistence by his favourite art, and found employment at noblemen's seats in Shropshire and the midland and southern counties. It was not until he had attained the prime of life that he came so far northwards as the neighbourhood of Sheffield, his first residence in this county having been taken up at Doncaster. Here his works soon earned for him enviable fame, and it was not long before he was known as one of the best animal painters in the country. He found the best market for his paintings in Sheffield, and ultimately that circumstance led to his removal to this town, where he resided for some time, and enriched the collection of paintings which now amongst its inhabitants survive him.
His eccentric nature found him entering into a dispute with the hanging committee of the school who he felt had shown him some affront in the placing of his pictures.
Not long after this Ward left London and travelled north to Sheffield, where the growing art market provided a good incubator for his success. However, his moderate wealth led him into a social life revolving around disreputable inns and taverns and questionable company. It wasn’t long before the debts mounted up and Ward found himself being carted further up the country and incarcerated in York Castle Prison.
According to John Ward Knowles’ encyclopaedia of York Artists, it was whilst imprisoned that Ward was discovered to be an accomplished artist by a bailiff, who then arranged for his release and subsequently ‘farmed his talent, supplying him with all the necessities of life but no more, and taking all his productions.’ Luckily, Ward managed to escape this entrapment and took up a room with only a small white terrier for companionship.
At length, from some cause which at this distant period is unexplained, he fell into a pecuniary difficulty which caused him change his residence to York, after for a short period dating from ‘Clifford's Buildings’, he breathed a less restrained atmosphere, and took up his residence at an hotel called the Light Horseman, on the Barrack Road. This was three and twenty years ago, and in his then state of impecuniosity he was glad to accept as his first commission the painting of a portrait of Captain Thompson, in his uniform as an officer of the Carbineers. He did a considerable amount of similar work for the officers of that regiment, which was then stationed in York, but after their departure he returned to the more favourite and congenial branch of his art - animal painting.
This he carried on for a while at the village of Heworth, which is just outside York, and whither he had removed from the Light Horseman; and subsequently the scene of his labour was an old room in one of the most ancient buildings that the city of York possesses. This was the Old College in College Street, and situated within the shadow of the noble Cathedral. Here for 20 years he stuck to his easel, and has often been heard to say that from the day he took to his favourite room he never went out of the city he had adopted. This was one of a large number of singular features which made of Mr. Ward a ‘character’.
His productions were always in strong demand, and always left his hands at but a tithe of their value. Often was he sought with the view to the execution of commissions, but such was his retiring disposition that the seeking was seldom successful, and the object could be effected but through the means of a few persons whom he cherished as his friends. In fact, though he lived in the very heart of the city for fully a score years, it is thought that the place does not possess a dozen persons who can boast of having been in his studio. He never married, and had no assistance in his domestic affairs; and singular stories are told of the wretchedness, squalor, and filth with which his home was invested.
The whole of his painting commissions in later years have been executed for residents in York, and through them a good few have passed into other parts of the country. One of his latest patrons was Mr. Reed, surgeon, of York, for whom he has painted a number of subjects; and to this gentleman just a fortnight ago last evening Mr. Ward stated that he was ill. Suffering from hernia, he complained of his truss, and this as a consequence Mr. Reed desired to see him. He refused, but Mr. Reed insisted, and still he refused; and from this time neither Mr. Reed nor any other person could gain admission to his room. The latter gentleman presented himself twice on the Tuesday and Wednesday, and once on Thursday without success, and therefore on the afternoon of the latter day, fearing that he might die, he consulted with Mr. Ward's friend, Police Inspector Ingram, as to the course which under the circumstances should be pursued. It was decided that both should present themselves at his room, and if Mr. Ingram failed to obtain admission to break open the door. In response to call, nothing was heard but what sounded like a suppressed moan; and therefore a forcible entrance was effected. The sight which presented itself beggars description for squalor and filth, and in the midst of it lay poor old Ward unconscious, almost black in the face and, but for the timely aid, within a few hours of death. His body was picked up from amidst a heap of rubbish and laid on a chair; and from that place he received every attention that his position required. He, however, took nothing but stimulants and died before stated, on Friday morning. Mr Ward’s circumstances at his death were those of extreme poverty and an effort is being made amongst the admirers of his works and patrons in York to give his remains respectable interment.
Mr Ward’s productions were not so much what may be termed pictures as paintings of animal subjects and heads. Dogs especially were a favourite subject and this led to his being known to some by the appellation of ‘Doggy’ Ward. But whether pictures of subjects - and the former he has in later years produced a number - their merits as artistic productions are undoubted, and their future change of hands will in all probability be to the great advantage of those who possess them. One partially executed picture was all that his studio was found to possess."