Great Shropshire artist who faded into the background
On the death of his father, Lawrence Weaver inherited a treasure trove of papers, letters, and documents about an ancestor who was one of Shropshire's great artists in his field but is today largely forgotten.
But now he is aiming to bring Shrewsbury's Thomas Weaver and his work to a modern generation through a new book, called Painter of Pedigree.
"Thomas Weaver was born in Worthen in 1775 and established a studio at St John's Hill in Shrewsbury which was the headquarters of an animal painting business that thrived for almost 35 years," said Dr Weaver, a retired paediatrician, who has spent much of the past five years tracing his ancestor's footsteps and researching his life and work.
"He painted farm and sporting animals for many of the gentry and aristocracy of Shropshire and beyond, and his pictures may still be found hanging in Attingham Hall, Weston Park, Calke Abbey, and there are some in the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery.
"He seems little known or remembered in Shropshire and I am hoping that my book will rescue him from obscurity. It is written for the general reader and is well illustrated by his paintings and prints, as well as those of his contemporaries, including Stubbs and Turner."
Dr Weaver, who lives in Glasgow, said: "I am his great-great-great-great nephew. I was aware of him just as a painter until my father died about 10 years ago when I inherited a collection of all Weaver's papers and correspondence and bits of his diary.
"It is a rather remarkable treasure of papers about the jobbing life of an animal artist in the age of agricultural revolution and agricultural improvement.
"He was a pupil of a pupil of George Stubbs who overlapped with him. They both exhibited in the Royal Academy in London in the 1810s.
"Weaver painted for all the local gentry and aristocracy around Shrewsbury, Staffordshire, and Herefordshire and so on."
Weaver's subjects were the likes of prize bulls, pedigree sheep, and thoroughbred stallions, but changing times and fashions contributed to him falling into relative obscurity.
"The genre of animal portraiture which appealed to people who loved animals and great sportsmen sort of died along with that sort of culture. Portraiture of animals was taken over by photography."
Nevertheless many of Weaver's works remain to be admired, and Dr Weaver has tracked down and seen personally around 150, with others in various museums and collections, as well as on the walls of country houses around Shrewsbury and elsewhere.
Dr Weaver, who is 69 and does not himself have any painting background, says originals can command £5,000-plus.
He has one of Thomas' artworks.
"I have his self portrait."
He said Thomas was very prolific.
"He could create a very good likeness of a particular animal but also capture the essence of the breed, which is what he was being paid to do."
Painter of Pedigree costs £30 and is hardback. It is available in major bookshops and online retailers or direct from www.unicornpublishing.org.
