Alken

Alken. Family of British sporting artists of Danish origin. The family tradition was begun by Samuel Alken, Sen. (1750–1815), who engraved hunting and sporting landscapes in the manner of Stubbs. Four of his sons became artists, including Samuel, Jun. (1784–c.1825), and most notably Henry (1785–1851), who was one of the most prolific sporting painters and illustrators of his time. His sprightly style was already archaic in his day, but he excelled at representing the life and movement of the hunting field and produced a huge output of coloured prints (some of them produced under the pseudonym ‘Ben Tally-Ho’), which continue to be popular with collectors. He had four sons, among them Samuel Henry Gordon Alken (1810–94), generally known as Henry Alken, Jun., with whose work his own is often confused.