The Brook & The Bank (c.1840)

The most distinguished member of an artistic dynasty, Henry Alken was the dominant sporting artist of the early nineteenth century. Growing up in Bedford Square, he studied under his father, and was apprenticed to the miniaturist John Thomas Barber. During this apprenticeship, he exhibited two portrait miniatures at the Royal Academy of Arts (1801-2).  During the 1820s, Alken was at his most skilful and successful, producing many prints and illustrating numerous books, the subjects ranging across comic and serious.

His work is represented in numerous public collections, including the British Museum and the V&A; and the New York Public Library.

Henry Thomas Alken’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, the record price being 90,000 USD for The Start of the Derby sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2005.