The Unlucky Man

Image size: 7 x 18 inches (18 x 46 cm) Paper size: 11 x 22 inches (28 x 56 cm)

Each print is hand numbered, accompanied by a certificate signed by the Master Printer and is numbered to match the print. The editions are unlimited.

This delightful painting, which forms a pair with The Lucky Man, is a fine example of the work of Lionel Edwards, widely considered one of the finest sporting artists of the twentieth century. Edwards was a tremendously keen fox hunter for nearly his entire adult life, and his enthusiasm for the sport manifested itself beautifully in his hunting scenes, which are internationally renowned to this day.This painting is believed to have been executed in around 1912, during an eventful period in Edwards’ life. After his 1905 marriage, he and his wife Ethel had gone to live in Oxfordshire, before moving to Worcestershire in 1909. They stayed there for three years, but finding that the hunting country was “not ideal…having too many woods, market gardens and orchards”, Edwards took his wife and two young children to live in his mother’s home at Benarth, in north Wales.The Edwardses thrived in this rural idyll: many miles from the nearest town, they were obliged to be self-supporting, and with their love of animals and of nature they took readily to a farmer’s life. They grew their own vegetables and kept pigs, cows and poultry, along with a couple of horses for transport. Needless to say, time was also found for hunting. Like so many others, their tranquil existence was to be shattered by the outbreak of the First World War; but the happiness of that time is wonderfully reflected in the warm humour of this memorable painting.