The Deer Stealer

The Deer Stealer is an 1823 oil painting by English artist James Ward that masterfully combines elements of genre painting and landscape, characteristic of Romanticism. It depicts a poacher in a wooded scene, accompanied by a white horse and a dead deer, capturing the tension between human activity and nature. The artwork was commissioned for five hundred guineas, but Ward's exceptional execution prompted the owner, Theophilus Levett, to pay six hundred—the highest fee Ward received for a private commission. The painting exemplifies the emotional intensity and vivid realism that define Romantic landscape art.