[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa.]

STRUTT, Alfred William [1856–1924]

“The Old Cottage”

oil on canvas on board / 8.3 inches by 15.7 inches / unsigned

ca1910

Why, do you suppose, does rural life fascinate those who live it? A humble crofter’s cottage in England would bear little resemblance to a farmstead in the outback of America. Yet there is a kinship of directness and authenticity which links them, and an appreciation for others in similar circumstance. Or is it a matter of “idealization”, the discernment of a prototype; a yearning for the improvement of our own situation?

Alfred William Strutt (1856-1924) came from a long line of painters. His father, William Strutt (1825-1915), was a prolific artist of genre, animals and portraits, who moved to Australia in 1850, and produced an important record of early colonial days. Alfred was born in New Zealand, before his family returned to England in 1856, where he was taught by his father and also attended South Kensington Schools. He painted a variety of subjects including genre and sporting scenes. Strutt is perhaps best known for his paintings of various dogs, horses, donkeys and some genre pictures. Some were published as steel engravings in signed editions.

He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and was elected Royal Society of British Artists in 1888 and an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers the following year. Other exhibiting venues included Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, London Salon, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Examples of his work are in the collections of numerous British museums.

This small study may have been intended for larger treatment.