A well-executed early 19th century painting of an Irish red and white setter in a country landscape, by Francis Calcraft Turner. Irish setters were highly popular gundogs bred to hunt gamebirds such as partridges, grouse or pheasants. The Rossmore family of County Monaghan in Ireland, had a strain of red and white setters dating back to the mid 18th century and these are sometimes referred to as Rossmore Setters. They were also called Arran Setters as the family often hosted shooting parties on land they owned there. Other owners recorded at this time included Reverend Mahon of Castlegar, Yelverton O'Keefe, Maurice Nugent O'Connor and Miss Lidwell.

Little is known about Francis Calcraft Turner's early life although he is recorded as living in London and it is widely believed he was born there. He was a talented artist and draughtsman who specialised in sporting paintings as well as dog portraits. He spent his time following sporting events and the local hunts including the Essex Hounds, East Kent and the Old Berkeley and earned commissions to paint favourite horses or dogs. Turner was a regular contributor to the Sporting Magazine and many of his works were reproduced as engravings, which were highly popular.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1817 until 1844 and also exhibited at the British Institute. He is likely to be related to the artist GA Turner who was probably his son, as they shared two of the same addresses: 66 Great Queen Street, Lincolns Inn fields and 94 York Road, Waterloo Bridge, from where they both exhibited. During the early 1830’s, Turner suffered from financial difficulties but continued producing paintings and exhibiting works at the Royal Academy. He died at Lambeth, London in 1846.

Examples of his paintings are held by the Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, The Hepworth Wakefield, Manchester Art Gallery, The National Horseracing Museum, Walker Art Gallery, The Royal Collection, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Yale Center for British Art.