3-034-665 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"A Stag at Bay on Exmoor Forest", by S. Carter, 1871. Engraving of a painting. 'The deer on Exmoor is not, as in North Britain, killed by shooting, but chased with a pack of hounds, like the fox...The master of the hounds since 1855 has been Mr. Mordaunt Fenwick Bisset, of Pixton, to whose public-spirited efforts the country is greatly indebted for the maintenance and improvement of stag-hunting. A very large number of Somersetshire and Devonshire gentlemen have therefore subscribed to present him with a suitable testimonial of their esteem. This gift has taken the shape of Mr. Samuel Carter's striking picture, which was shown at the last Exhibition of the Royal Academy...It represents a September evening on Badgeworthy Water, Exmoor Forest; the stag at bay in the pool; the dogs yelling before him; the whip, Arthur Heale, dismounted to strike the fatal blow; the huntsman, Jack Babbage, sounding the mort upon his horn; the master of the hounds sitting by, on his gallant grey steed, awaiting the other members of the hunt, who are galloping down the steep sides of the "combe," or valley, with breakneck speed, racing to be in at the death'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.