A pleasing landscape painting of a plough team at rest next to a barn by Thomas Blinks. Three horses are shown eating hay from a cart in the shade of a barn. Two figures and a dog are also depicted taking their repast. On the left of the scene, open fields can be seen through a gate, whilst in the far distance a church and other buildings can be made out on the brow of a hill.

Thomas Blinks was born in Maidstone, Kent on 29 October 1853 to Richard Blinks and Eleanor Poile. His father was a master butcher in Ticehurst and the family lived above the shop, which is still operates as a butchers today. Thomas initially worked for his father but his talent for art soon took him in another direction.

He married Louisa Anne Winterbottom on 11 April 1874, at Rye, Sussex and together they had 3 children. They lived in Hawkhurst, Kent before moving to Hackney, London in 1878. Whilst largely self- taught, Blinks would have learnt basic anatomy from working with his father, but he also spent time at Tattersalls canine and horse auctions studying the form and movement of the animals. Finding a ready market amongst the sporting and betting patrons there, perhaps unsurprisingly he began specialising in sporting and hunting paintings.

From the early 1880's he lived at 8 Lady Margaret Road in Kentish Town and from where he made his debut at the Dudley Gallery, London in 1881. He began exhibiting at the Royal Society of Artists in 1882 and at the Royal Academy in 1883, where he continued to exhibit until the year of his death. He also exhibited at the Suffolk Street Galleries. By 1886, Blinks had moved to 1 Hill road, St. John’s Wood and began to enjoy considerable success, which enabled him to own a second home in Leven’s Green Great Munden Ware Hertfordshire. Blinks was also often employed as a consultant by Fred Roe when he was including animals in his paintings. A portrait of him by Roe can be found in the National Portrait Gallery.

He died at his home in Hill road, St. John’s Wood on 29 December 1910, according to official records and was buried at Hendon Park Cemetery.

Examples of his work are held by the Brighton and Hove Museums, Leicester Museum, Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery, Nuneaton Museum, the National Trust and Watford Museum.

© Benton Fine Art