Thomas Baines (United Kingdom 1820-1875)
Hunting Zebra and Eland

oil on board

Signature details: engraved with the artist's name and the title on a plaque mid-bottom of frame; printed with the artist's name, the title, medium and dimensions on a label and further printed with the artist's name, the title, medium and dimensions on a Pieter Wenning Gallery label adhered to the reverse
Exchange Rates*: USD 23 943 - 26 464
GBP 20 275 - 22 409
EURO 17 688 - 19 550

(1)

40 x 60 cm; framed size: 69 x 89.5 x 6 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Johannesburg.

Sotheby Parke Bernet South Africa, Johannesburg, 25 September 1973, lot 211.

Pieter Wenning Gallery, Johannesburg.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Thomas Baines, a 19th-century British artist, adventurer and explorer, occupies a significant place in the visual and historical record of southern Africa. Through his extensive travels and keen observational practice, he produced a body of work that remains among the most important pictorial accounts of the region during this period.

Active in southern Africa during the mid-19^th century, Baines accompanied a number of key expeditions, including journeys along the Zambezi River. During these travels, he produced detailed field sketches and watercolours that recorded the region’s landscapes, wildlife and lived encounters with remarkable immediacy. These firsthand studies were subsequently developed into finished paintings.

Emerging from a preparatory watercolour dated 14 September 1862, Hunting Zebra and Eland reflects the artist’s practice of translating firsthand observation into expansive and evocative painted visions. The work moves beyond its documentary origins, capturing not only the specifics of the scene but also a heightened sense of atmosphere, movement and place.

The original watercolour, now in the collection of Museum Africa, Johannesburg, is inscribed with a detailed account of the hunt, describing the pursuit of mountain zebras with the assistance of local guides, as well as the escape of an eland. Baines records the setting as a kloof along a tributary south of the Zambezi, grounding the scene in his travels through the region.

A related pencil sketch of the same subject is in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, further attesting to Baines’ methodical working process. Together, these studies exemplify his dual role as artist and explorer, highlighting the progression from on-site observation to a finished work.

Preparatory study of Hunting Zebra and Eland. Sunday, 14 September 1862, watercolour on paper. Collection of Museum Africa, Johannesburg.

The inscription on the watercolour reads:

Mountain Zebras one of them crippled by myself and run down by Kanoa and my Makalaka guide Mangabba and the other wounded by John Lang and killed by myself, the bullet passing through his tail and lodging in the breast and my shot breaking her shoulder - Eland escaping - in a kloof of a tributary of the Mahelwe (?) south of the Zambesi River - I believe on comparing notes these were Quaggas of the new variety’

We would like to extend our gratitude to Michael Stevenson for his generous assistance in providing valuable information regarding the preparatory watercolour.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the British Museum, London; Royal Geographic Society, London; National War Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland; National Library of Australia, Canberra and National Archives of Zimbabwe, Harare