A tranquil scene of calves and ducks at a river by Claude Cardon. A small herd of calves are shown taking rest under the shade of a tree by the side of a river. One of the calves can be seen looking out across the water towards a farm on the other side as ducks forage on the bank.

Claude Lorraine Clark known as Claude Cardon was born in 1864 to Samuel James Clark and his wife Maria Thornton. He was born into the Clark family of artists; his father, known as Samuel Joseph Clark (1841-1928), was a landscape and animal painter and his grandfather James Clark (1812-1884), was a well-known animal painter. The family lived in Islington and Claude was taught to paint by his father. Like other members of his family, he painted animals, specialising in rural farm scenes often depicting calves, chickens, pigs and sheep.

In 1888, he married Lottie Maud Whetstone and together they lived in Islington. By 1892, he had started using the pseudonym of Claude Cardon and began exhibiting at the Royal Academy under this name. He also exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and the Manchester City Art Gallery.

He moved to Camden in 1895 where he worked out of a studio until around 1911 when he decided to settle in Whitstable, Kent. He spent his final years in Kent where he died on 20 January 1937 at no. 79 Canterbury Road, Whitstable. Examples of his work can be found at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery.

© Benton Fine Art