Horses, dogs, birds and wild animals
Top 100 famous animal painters
From Snyders, Oudry and Stubbs to Rosa Bonheur, Landseer, Liljefors, Audubon, Bateman and Walton Ford, this guide brings together a hundred artists who have placed the animal at the heart of the image.
Animal painting is not a minor genre: it touches on hunting, horses, natural science, dog portraits, the rural world, wild animals, birds, ecology and the sensitive relationship between humans and animals.
Before the grid
Why animal painters fascinate so much
Painting an animal requires more than a resemblance. You have to grasp a posture, a look, muscular tension, fur, a feather, a movement and sometimes an emotional relationship.
This classification crosses the major centers of the genre: Flemish Baroque, Dutch Golden Age, French royal animalist, British sporting art, 19th century realism, ornithology, wildlife art and contemporary bestiaries.
Top 1 to 20
Flemish Baroque, Dutch Golden Age and Royal Animal
Hunting, game, birds, menageries and court animals establish animal painting as a major genre.
#1
Frans Snyders
Snyders imposes still lifes, hunts, dogs and game with spectacular baroque energy.
See the Frans Snyders collection
#2
Jan Fyt
Fyt paints dogs, birds, hares and hunting trophies with tactile virtuosity.
See the Jan Fyt collection
#3
Paul de Vos
From Your dramatizes animal fights, packs and hunts in vast baroque compositions.
See the Paul de Vos collection
#4
Pieter Boel
Boel observes live animals and royal menageries with nervous precision.
See the Pieter Boel collection
#5
David de Coninck
Coninck paints birds, dogs, game and hunting scenes in the Flemish tradition.
See the David de Coninck collection
#6
Melchior d'Hondecoeter
Hondecoeter transforms peacocks, roosters, swans and poultry into true aristocratic portraits.
See Hondecoeter's Melchior collection
#7
Jan Weenix
Weenix combines game, gardens, dogs and architecture in sumptuous settings.
See the Jan Weenix collection
#8
Jan Baptist Weenix
Weenix connects Italianate landscape, domestic animals and sheepfold scenes.
See the Jan Baptist Weenix collection
#9
Paulus Potter
Potter gives cows, bulls and horses a monumental and almost heroic presence.
See the Paulus Potter collection
#10
Aelbert Cuyp
Cuyp paints horses, cows and riders in typically Dutch golden light.
See the Aelbert Cuyp collection
#11
Philips Wouwerman
Wouwerman excels in horses, military stops, hunts and equestrian scenes.
See the Philips Wouwerman collection
#12
Adriaen van de Velde
Van de Velde paints herds, shepherds and animals with luminous delicacy.
See the Adriaen van de Velde collection
#13
Karel Dujardin
Dujardin mixes animals, shepherds and southern landscapes in a gentle pastoral style.
See the Karel Dujardin collection
#14
Nicolaes Berchem
Berchem people roads and hills of goats, sheep, cattle and horsemen.
See the Nicolaes Berchem collection
#15
Roelant Savery
Savery paints menageries, sleeps, birds and rare animals with an encyclopedic imagination.
See the Roelant Savery collection
#16
Abraham Hondius
Hondius specializes in dogs, hunts and animal clashes.
See the Abraham Hondius collection#17
Jean Baptiste Oudry
Oudry paints dogs, wolves, swans and royal hunts with masterful elegance.
See the Jean-Baptiste Oudry collection
#18
Alexandre-François Desportes
Fixed doors for dogs, game and hunting trophies in great French taste.
See the Alexandre-François Desportes collection
#19
Christophe Huet
Huet animates antics, birds and exotic settings with a sparkling rockery spirit.
See the Christophe Huet collection
#20
Jean Baptiste Huet
Huet paints sheep, dogs, shepherdesses and pastoral scenes with decorative grace.
See the Jean-Baptiste Huet collectionRanks 21 to 40
Horses, dogs and British sporting art
The horse, the dog, hunting and the countryside become noble, popular and extraordinarily precise subjects.
#21
George Stubbs
Stubbs gives the horse unparalleled anatomical precision and pictorial nobility.
See the George Stubbs collection
#22
Sawrey Gilpin
Gilpin paints horses, dogs and sports scenes with great fluidity.
See the Sawrey Gilpin collection
#23
John Wootton
Wootton founded the British sporting art, between racehorses, dogs and hunting.
See the John Wootton Collection
#24
John Frederick Herring Sr.
Herring became one of the great painters of racehorses and stables.
See the John Frederick Herring Sr. collection.
#25
Edwin Landseer
Landseer humanizes dogs, deer and wild animals with exceptional narrative sense.
See the Edwin Landseer collection
#26
Charles burton barber
Barber paints dogs, cats and children in a very popular Victorian sentimentality.
See the Charles Burton Barber collection
#27
Maud Earl
Earl gives purebred dogs a worldly, precise and affectionate elegance.
See the Maud Earl collection
#28
Cecil Aldin
Aldin paints dogs, horses and hunting scenes with graphic humor and warmth.
See the Cecil Aldin collection
#29
Lucy Kemp-Welch
Kemp-Welch renews horse painting, from rural work to military duties.
Read Lucy Kemp-Welch's biography on Wikipedia
#30
Heywood Hardy
Hardy paints horses, dogs and country scenes with an elegant narrative sense.
See the Heywood Hardy collection
#31
Arthur Wardle
Wardle alternates purebred dogs, big cats and wild animals with great flexibility.
See the Arthur Wardle collection
#32
Briton River
River paints lions, dogs, horses and animal stories with dramatic emotion.
See the Briton Rivière collection
#33
John macallan swan
Swan observes lions, tigers and panthers with almost sculptural power.
See the John Macallan Swan collection
#34
William Barraud
Barraud paints horses, dogs and hunting scenes in the British sporting tradition.
See the William Barraud collection
#35
Samuel john carter
Carter paints pets, dogs, cats and rural scenes with careful realism.
See the Samuel John Carter collection
#36
Alfred Munnings
Munnings gives the English horse a modern, worldly, sporty and colorful energy.
Read Alfred Munnings' biography on Wikipedia
#37
Rosa Happiness
Happiness imposes horses, oxen, sheep and lions with exceptional realistic strength.
See the Rosa Bonheur collection
#38
Auguste Bonheur
Happiness paints herds, pastures and farm animals in a realistic vein.
See the Auguste Bonheur collection
#39
Jacques-Laurent Agasse
Agasse paints horses, dogs and exotic animals with elegant precision.
See the Jacques-Laurent Agasse collection
#40
Constant Troyon
Troyon makes cows, sheep and oxen luminous presences of Barbizon.
See the Constant Troyon collectionRanks 41 to 60
French realism, wild animals and rural scenes
Rosa Bonheur, Troyon, Delacroix, Jouve and European animal makers give animals power, character and movement.
#41
Charles Jacque
Jacque excels in chickens, sheep, pigs and rustic scenes.
See the Charles Jacque collection
#42
Alfred de Dreux
De Dreux paints horses, amazons and equestrian elegance with great distinction.
See the Alfred de Dreux collection
#43
Carle Vernet
Vernet fixes horses, riders and military scenes with classic liveliness.
See the Carle Vernet collection
#44
Horace Vernet
Vernet brings horses, hunting, war and orientalism to life with spectacular meaning.
See the Horace Vernet collection
#45
Théodore Géricault
Géricault gives the horse a nervous, anatomical and romantic intensity.
See the Théodore Géricault collection
#46
Eugene Delacroix
Delacroix paints horses, lions, tigers and hunts with colorful violence.
See the Eugène Delacroix collection
#47
Eugene Fromentin
Fromentin combines horses, riders and North African landscapes in dry poetry.
See the Eugène Fromentin collection
#48
Paul Jouve
Jouve stylizes lions, panthers, elephants and monkeys in an Art Deco powerhouse.
Read Paul Jouve's biography on Wikipedia
#49
Wilhelm Kuhnert
Kuhnert paints African lions, elephants, zebras and animals from the sighting.
See the Wilhelm Kuhnert collection
#50
Richard Friese
Friese paints bears, lions, tigers and wild animals with naturalistic force.
See the Richard Friese collection
#51
Heinrich von zugel
Zügel renews livestock painting with light, outdoors and a modern touch.
See the Heinrich von Zügel collection
#52
Franz Marc
Mark transforms horses, foxes and deer into colorful and spiritual symbols.
See the Franz Marc collection
#53
Antonio Ligabue
Ligabue paints tigers, lions, snakes and wild animals with raw intensity.
Read Antonio Ligabue's biography on Wikipedia
#54
Bruno Liljefors
Liljefors observes foxes, birds, hares and northern nature with striking truth.
See the Bruno Liljefors collection
#55
Archibald Thorburn
Thorburn became one of Britain's great bird and wildlife painters.
See the Archibald Thorburn collection
#56
Charles Tunnicliffe
Tunnicliffe paints birds, farm animals and coastal wildlife with sobriety.
Read the biography of Charles Tunnicliffe on Wikipedia
#57
Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Fuertes modernizes American ornithological painting through movement and accuracy.
See the Louis Agassiz Fuertes collection
#58
John James Audubon
Audubon gives American birds a dramatic, scientific and artistic presence.
See the John James Audubon collection
#59
Elizabeth Gould
Gould contributes images of birds of delicate and essential precision.
See the Elizabeth Gould collection
#60
Edward Lear
Lear draws parrots, birds and animals with vivid and colorful accuracy.
See the Edward Lear collectionRanks 61 to 80
Birds, naturalists and learned bestiaries
From Merian to Audubon, from birds to insects, animal painting joins natural history and scientific illustration.
#61
John gerrard keulemans
Keulemans illustrates birds from around the world with remarkable naturalistic precision.
See the John Gerrard Keulemans collection
#62
Joseph Wolf
Wolf paints birds, mammals and animal scenes with a dramatic sense of life.
See the Joseph Wolf collection
#63
George Edward Lodge
Lodge stands out for its raptors, birds and British nature scenes.
See the George Edward Lodge collection
#64
Basil Ede
Ede continues the great ornithological tradition with brightly sharp birds.
Read Basil Ede's biography on Wikipedia
#65
Robert gillmor
Gillmor combines naturalistic observation, engraving, color and bird silhouettes.
Read Robert Gillmor's biography on Wikipedia
#66
Maria Sibylla Merian
Merian paints insects, caterpillars, butterflies and plants with pioneering precision.
See the Maria Sibylla Merian collection
#67
Mark Catesby
Catesby illustrates American birds, reptiles, fish and plants with curiosity.
See the Mark Catesby collection
#68
Albrecht Durer
Dürer gives the hare, the rhino and the animals a precision that has become legendary.
See the Albrecht Dürer collection
#69
Pisanello
Pisanello observes horses, dogs, birds and court animals with Gothic finesse.
See the Pisanello collection
#70
Carel Fabritius
Fabritius remains associated with the Goldfinch, a small icon of animal presence.
See the Carel Fabritius collection
#71
Henri Rousseau
Rousseau populates his jungles with tigers, monkeys and birds in a frontal strangeness.
See the Henri Rousseau collection
#72
Edward Hicks
Hicks paints pacified animals, lions, lambs and biblical figures in a naive vision.
See the Edward Hicks collection
#73
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait
Was painted American dogs, hunting, birds and wildlife with direct narration.
See the Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait collection
#74
Carl Rungius
Rungius becomes a master of North American wildlife, moose, mouflons and bears.
Read Carl Rungius' biography on Wikipedia
#75
Robert Bateman
Bateman combines animal realism, ecology and the great North American spaces.
Read Robert Bateman's biography on Wikipedia
#76
David Shepherd
Shepherd becomes famous for its elephants, locomotives and wildlife defense.
Read David Shepherd's biography on Wikipedia
#77
Nothing Poortvliet
Poortvliet tells the story of animals, nature and rural life in a warm and precise drawing.
Read the biography of Rien Poortvliet on Wikipedia
#78
Walton Ford
Ford revisits naturalist painting in large critical and baroque animal watercolors.
Read Walton Ford's biography on Wikipedia
#79
Alexis Rockman
Rockman paints animals, mutations, ecosystems and ecological crises in dense visions.
Read Alexis Rockman's biography on Wikipedia
#80
Peter paul rubens
Rubens gives lion, tiger and hippopotamus hunts a founding baroque violence.
See the Peter Paul Rubens collectionRanks 81 to 100
Wild fauna, modernity and contemporary bestiaries
Wildlife art, ecology, modern graphics and symbolic bestiaries extend the fascination with living things.
#81
Jean-Leon Gérôme
Gérôme paints lions, tigers, horses and orientalist scenes with theatrical precision.
See the Jean-Léon Gérôme collection
#82
Gustave Courbet
Courbet paints deer, trout, dogs and hunting scenes with powerful realistic material.
See the Gustave Courbet collection
#83
Frederic Remington
Remington combines horses, riders, bison and the mythology of the American West.
See the Frederic Remington collection
#84
Charles marion russell
Russell paints horses, bison, bears and frontier scenes with narrative energy.
See the Charles Marion Russell collection
#85
George Catlin
Catlin documents bison, horses and plains cultures with ethnographic ambition.
See the George Catlin collection
#86
Alfred Jacob Miller
Miller paints horses, camps, hunting and Western life in a romantic vein.
See the Alfred Jacob Miller collection
#87
George Morland
Morland paints pigs, horses, dogs and farms with popular familiarity.
See the George Morland collection
#88
Henry thomas alken
Alken illustrates horses, dogs, hunting, racing and sporting scenes with wit.
See the Henry Thomas Alken collection
#89
Thomas Bewick
Bewick renews the image of birds and animals through naturalistic engraving.
See the Thomas Bewick collection
#90
Louis Wain
Wain transforms cats into expressive, graphic and instantly recognizable characters.
See the Louis Wain collection
#91
Theophilus Steinlen
Steinlen makes the cat a modern, popular, elegant and Parisian icon.
See the Théophile Steinlen collection
#92
Edward Julius Detmold
Detmold composes birds, fish and animals in decorative images of great finesse.
Read the biography of Edward Julius Detmold on Wikipedia
#93
Charles Maurice Detmold
Detmold developed with his brother a refined, precise and stylized bestiary.
See the Charles Maurice Detmold collection
#94
Beatrix Potter
Potter gives rabbits, mice, ducks and pets a unique narrative life.
See the Beatrix Potter collection
#95
Harrison Weir
Weir illustrates cats, birds and pets with a Victorian sensibility.
See the Harrison Weir collection
#96
Jacques Barraband
Barraband paints parrots, tropical birds and naturalistic boards with brilliance.
See the Jacques Barraband collection
#97
Aert Schouman
Schouman paints birds, menageries and animal decorations with great elegance.
See the Aert Schouman collection
#98
Pablo Picasso
Picasso constantly returns to the bull, the horse, the dove and the mythical bestiary.
Read the biography of Pablo Picasso on Wikipedia
#99
Marc Chagall
Chagall populates his painting with goats, roosters, horses and floating animals, tender and symbolic.
Read Marc Chagall's biography on Wikipedia
#100
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo studies horses, cats, birds and animal anatomy with a founding curiosity.
See the Leonardo da Vinci collectionMethod
How the 100 artists were selected
The selection favors painters and illustrators whose animal is central: horses, dogs, cats, birds, wild animals, livestock, insects, wildlife or symbolic bestiary.
The link rule remains the same: artists who died in 1956 or before refer to an internal collection; artists who died after 1956, or who are still alive, refer to Wikipedia.
Choose an entry
Where to start?
For horses, start with Stubbs, Wootton, Herring, Géricault, Munnings and Remington. For dogs and cats, look at Landseer, Maud Earl, Aldin, Wain and Steinlen.
For birds and learned nature, explore Audubon, Merian, Keulemans, Thorburn, Fuertes and Liljefors. For wild animals and modernity, look at Delacroix, Jouve, Kuhnert, Rousseau, Franz Marc and Walton Ford.
When the animal becomes the main subject
These hundred artists show that the animal can be a portrait, symbol, companion, wild force, scientific object or mirror of humans.
From Snyders to Rosa Bonheur, from Stubbs to Audubon, from Landseer to Walton Ford, animal painting tells the story of our way of looking at the living.
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