Wild boars and wolf

The price paid for this picture by the collector John Sheepshanks was high (500 florins) for Gauermann at this period and it remains among his most impressive works. According to his account book, it was painted in June 1835 and sent to England in December. In stressing Gauermann's high reputation among his contemporaries, it is interesting to note that he was the only foreign artist represented in Sheepshanks' gift to the museum. When the Prince Consort visited the newly opened paintings gallery on 19th June 1857 he singled out this painting and another by Gauermann, Wolves attacking a Stag and a Deer, (Museum Number: FA.77). As the artist Richard Redgrave noted in his memoirs of the Prince's: 'In looking through the South Gallery, he noticed two pictures by Gauermann. He seemed to know him and his works.'He was' said the Prince, 'Court painter of animals and he also painted the late Emperor of Austria and all his family...'. There is no supporting evidence for the statement that he painted the Austrian Emperor so perhaps this was a royal joke.