🖼️ Hunting Sporting Oil Masterpiece

Title of this work: “Berkeley Goblin” Berkeley Hunt Foxhounds on Scent

Large Contemporary British Painting by Vicky Palmer

🐕 Subject & Medium

Oil on canvas.
This striking large-scale contemporary British sporting realism painting by Vicky Palmer depicts a powerful pack portrait of four English foxhounds of the Berkeley Hunt, shown in intense side profile, all focused sharply to the right as if locked onto a line of scent. The composition is both dramatic and modern: the hounds are isolated against a restrained, neutral background, giving the work a clean, architectural presence and strong interior impact. Executed with exceptional realism and sensitivity, the painting combines traditional British sporting subject matter with a contemporary gallery-style presentation, making it equally suited to classic country-house interiors or modern architectural spaces.

🎨 Composition & Technique

Palmer uses a close-cropped composition that brings the viewer directly into the presence of the hounds:

• The heads and shoulders dominate the canvas, creating scale, immediacy, and power

• The simplified background isolates the forms, making the dogs read almost like sculpture

• The anatomy and coat textures are handled with remarkable accuracy, with subtle transitions of fur, skin, and light

• Overlapping forms create rhythm and unity across the group, reinforcing the pack dynamic

• The painting reads strongly from across the room and rewards close inspection with fine realism

🧑🎨 About the Artist – Vicky Palmer

Vicky Palmer is a well-established British contemporary animal and sporting artist, particularly known for hounds, dogs, livestock, and rural animal subjects. She trained in the South West of England and later worked as a graphic designer before committing full-time to fine art. Now based in the Wiltshire countryside, she draws daily inspiration from rural life and working animals.

Career highlights associated with the artist include:

• Works in oil and acrylic

• Winner of the Trilogy Award from the Society of Women Artists

• Exhibits in London and Wiltshire, and at Country Life and animal art fairs

• Works held in private collections, including by Alan Titchmarsh and Lady McAlpine

• Sold via galleries and auction houses in the UK and internationally

Her distinctive style often removes animals from their usual environment and places them into simplified or neutral settings, giving her work a modern, gallery-led aesthetic while retaining traditional draftsmanship and realism.

🏰 About the Berkeley Hunt

The Berkeley Hunt is one of England’s oldest and most historically important foxhound packs, based in Gloucestershire. Hounds have been kept at Berkeley Castle since the 12th century, originally for stag and buck, and since the 18th century for foxhunting. The hunt’s country lies between Gloucester and Bristol and covers both hill country and the Vale of Berkeley.

📜 Historical & Artistic Significance

This painting sits within the great tradition of British sporting and animal art, yet feels distinctly contemporary. The subject is classic hunt portraiture, but the neutral, simplified setting and modern cropping give it a museum-like, gallery-forward presence. Large, high-quality contemporary hound paintings connected to historic packs such as Berkeley are increasingly sought after by collectors and interior designers.

✍️ Signature

Signed by the artist Vicky Palmer (visible on the front).
Label verso: “Vicky Palmer Fine Art – Berkeley Goblin”.

🪞 Framing

Presented in a high-quality contemporary white wood frame, professionally assembled using conservation materials (verso labels present from Whitewall / DeMontfort / Clarendon Galleries).

📏 Size

Framed size: 117 cm high x 117 cm wide x 4.5 cm deep.
A true statement-scale piece.

🧾 Provenance

Artist’s studio label verso.
Subsequently sold via a notable Greater London (Ruislip) auction house, Adam Partridge.
In the collection of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD.

🖼️ Exhibition History

While no specific exhibition label is attached to this individual painting, the artist is a regular exhibitor with the Society of Women Artists, in London and Wiltshire galleries, and at Country Life and animal art fairs. The professional framing and presentation are entirely consistent with exhibited gallery works by the artist.

💚 Why You’ll Love It

✅ True statement size – transforms a wall instantly
✅ Museum-style, contemporary presentation with strong architectural impact
✅ Beautifully observed, high-realism foxhound portraiture
✅ Powerful sense of tension and focus “on scent”
✅ Connected to one of England’s most historic hunts, the Berkeley Hunt
✅ Works equally well in classic country-house interiors and modern spaces
✅ Ready to hang, professionally framed and presented

🔍 Condition Report

Offered in very good overall condition.

• The painted surface is in excellent order

• The frame shows minor wear, scuffs, and small handling marks consistent with use
  Please note: the photographs form an integral part of the description and condition report and should be consulted carefully as part of the overall assessment.