George William Horlor was a British animal and sporting painter best known for his evocative depictions of animals in Highland landscapes. Born in Bath in 1823, he received his first artistic training from his father, Joseph Horlor, a landscape and marine painter. Early in his career, he worked in Bristol as both an animal and landscape artist, living on Orange Street in the St Paul’s area.
Horlor developed a distinctive style marked by the quick, expressive application of paint, producing soft, atmospheric effects that suited his Highland and rural subjects. His career took him to several cities, including Cheltenham, Birmingham, and later Brentford, and he exhibited widely from 1849 to 1891. He showed work at prominent institutions such as the British Institution, the Suffolk Street Galleries, and the Royal Academy, where he exhibited 19 paintings between 1854 and 1878. His painting A Day’s Sport was notably praised in the Art Journal’s review of the Royal Academy exhibition in 1855.
Horlor married Mary Cook in 1845 at St Paul’s Church in Portland Square, Bristol. The couple lived in Bristol and later moved to Cheltenham by 1851, where he resided at 240 Jersey Lodge and began to focus more on sporting and animal subjects, often set in Scottish Highland scenery. Around 1853–54, he relocated to Birmingham, opening a studio on New Street. Following Mary’s death in 1864, Horlor moved to London, settling near Regent’s Park, and continued to travel extensively to paint. In 1868, he married Hannah Simmons in Chester.
In the late 1880s, Horlor moved to Brentwood, Essex, where he continued to paint and exhibit until 1891. Unfortunately, his later years were marked by financial difficulty. He died in Southampton at South Stoneham on 24 January 1899.
His work is represented in numerous public collections, including the Royal Collection at Osborne House, the Wilson Gallery in Cheltenham, Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery, and Stockport Heritage Services, as well as in many private collections.