Original works of art

Cecil Aldin was born in Slough in 1870. He got his education at Eastbourne College and Solihull Grammar School, and studied art at the RCA and under Frank F. Calderon. Aldin drew cartoon in newspapers and magazines and illustrated hundreds of books throughout his lifetime, including Charles Dickens Pickwick, and one of his first major commissions being Kipling's Jungle Stories.

As Master of the South Berkshire Hunt, Aldin was a keen huntsman and many of his prints depict horses. Unusually, he also carried the horn with harriers, beagles and bassets, and drew animals of all kinds as well as his well-known hunting and coaching scenes, with humor and precision.

Cecil Aldin painted mainly in water-colour, but he was also famous for being a master of caricature in the drawing of both humans and animals. The quality of his art can be seen in most of his work, particularly in his many famous drawings of his family of dogs.