Wolverhampton Art Gallery (OP 222). Cartwright Bequest, 1887.

Industrial developments were not only pioneered in the Midlands, but agricultural ones were as well. The County Reports commissioned by the Board of Agriculture in the late 18th and early 19th centuries provide a detailed picture of innovations in farming including the breeding of new strains of sheep and cattle. In Leicestershire, Robert Bakewell (1725-1795) introduced new breeds of Leicester sheep and Longhorn cattle. Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) also wrote on agricultural subjects in his book “Phytologia; or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening” (1800), where he praised Bakewell’s method of reinforcing desirable traits in animals through stock-breeding.

James Ward painted battle scenes, mythological and religious scenes, but his most numerous and important paintings are those of animals. He was engaged by the President of the Agricultural Society to paint the portrait of his favourite cow. The long-term project followed - to illustrate all the British breeds of cow. Ward travelled the whole country, producing more than 200 cow paintings, and meeting everyone who was anyone in the cow appreciation world. But sometimes his paintings illustrated not only the ideas and practical achievements in farming all around the country during the period of the Agricultural Revolution, but also the Romantic Movement of that period. His "Gordale Scar" (1812-14, Tate Britain) reflects the Romantic idea of sublime, wild nature. The painting at Wolverhampton Art Gallery is probably a study for the main picture. Another image at Wolverhampton, “A Prize Bull” (OP 225), dating from the early 19th century by Edmund Bristow (1787-1876), shows a further example of animal portraiture.