Captain Charles Henry Augustus Lutyens (1829-1915)

Captain Charles Henry Augustus Lutyens (1829-1915) pursued a military career until 1857, when he retired to become a professional painter, specializing in portraits and horses. However, prior to that he had always drawn and painted in watercolours notably during his time in the Crimea, in 1855-6. From 1862 he lived in Onslow Square, South Kensington where he became a close friend of Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73), naming his son, the celebrated architect, after him.

He exhibited between 1861 and 1903, showing at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, British Institution, Grosvenor Gallery, Dudley Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Manchester City Art Gallery and the Society of British Artists, which elected James Whistler as its President in 1886. He was a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Society and supported Whistler when he was expelled in 1867.

Among the most famous and well-known of his artworks, showing his detailed understanding of a horse’s musculature, is Avontes and Groom in a Stable Interior. Other works include paintings of many of the horses of King Edward, the Duke of Westminster and other notable owners. His portraits of King Lud, Cremorne, Going Forward, Mary Stuart, Doncaster, Galopin, Blair Athol, Blue Green, Spring Field, Sefton, Isonomy, Carrieroy, Janette, Florizell 2, Persimon, Gallinule and Volodyosky demonstrate his love of horses and artistic talent. He first created clay models of an animal from which he made a drawing and then after a quick comparison produced the final painting.