The Death of the Fox
c. 1791/1794
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 142.2 x 188 cm (56 x 74 in.) framed: 185.4 x 229.9 x 10.8 cm (73 x 90 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Widener Collection
Accession Number
1942.9.43
Art Historical Context
George Morland’s *The Death of the Fox* captures a dramatic moment from an eighteenth-century English fox hunt. Painted in oil on canvas around 1791–1794, the large-scale work (over six feet wide) invites viewers to witness the final chase across open countryside. Morland, known for his sensitive depictions of rural life and animals, brings both energy and tenderness to the scene, balancing the excitement of the hunt with careful observation of horses, hounds, and the landscape. Fox hunting was a popular pastime among the British gentry during Morland’s lifetime, and paintings like this one s...
About the Artist
George Morland
English painter, son of the pastel portraitist, dealer and restorer Henry Robert Morland and the grandson of the genre painter George Henry Morland. Comment on works: Landscapes; Genre; Animals; Marines