Original works of art

Henry Alken, Sr. was well known as a painter of horses and hounds, and by far the most accomplished of the Alken family, which included some eight painters of horses and the sporting life; Henry Thomas Alken Senior had five children who became artists.

The first engravings after his paintings were published in 1813, and the first prints by him in 1815. He was a prolific artist, and he worked in a variety of media in addition to oil paintings: etchings, aquatint's, engravings and lithographs. There were many prints produced by, or after, him throughout the 1820's and 1830's.

As with Marshall and Wolstenholme, the majority of Alken’s paintings were of horses, although he occasionally did dog subjects. Early on, he used the pseudonym, "Ben Tally Ho", working as a graphic journalist. He later wrote The Beauties and Defects in the figure of the Horse, and in 1821 he illustrated The National Sports of Great Britain. His works on paper have a lovely, soft quality to them.