An old English hunting scene

Probably a design for a tapestry or decorative interior scheme

Watercolour

Signed verso with the artist’s address

36 x 28 cm

Contained within an impressive carved wooden framed with hunting motifs

£1,250

The Scottish born decorative artist Thomas Wallace Hay is best known for his work as a decorative painter with Gillow & Co. (from the early 1870s) and as a tapestry designer for the Royal Windsor Tapestry Manufactory (1876-1890). The present watercolour, a rare preparatory study by the artist, could relate to his work in either of these two roles.  Indeed, the two combined for Hay’s most notable project at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris where Gillow was chosen to design and furnish the interiors of the Price of Wales Pavilion.  The resulting interiors included a grand Elizabethan style dining room with Windsor Tapestry panels designed by Hay and two dressing rooms furnished in the ‘Old English’ manner.