Jonathan Trowell

Born in County Durham in 1938, Trowell learnt to ride as a child and began to draw horses at school, developing an early passion for racing. He studied at the Sunderland College of Art and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools where he received the Landseer Silver Medal for painting and the Bronze Medal for Drawing, as well as the Sir James Knott travelling scholarship. The latter enabled him to travel and paint in Spain and North Africa.

Trowell's range of subject matter is diverse; he is recognised as one of the country's foremost racing artists, while his landscapes and portraits are equally sought after. The appeal of his images lies in their spirit and vitality, the dynamism of the racecourse where one can almost hear the roar of the crowd, or the bustle and spirit of a popular European city. Trowell works in his studio from sketches, striving to recreate the atmosphere, colour and light of each scene. He employs different mediums to dramatic effect; the energy and power of a single racehorse thundering to the finish is captured in a charcoal line drawing, while by contrast landscapes and cityscapes tend to be oils * these are less specific and are poignantly evocative. Trowell paints his adopted Norfolk and other parts of the English countryside, capturing the beauty of the natural landscape in deceptively casual brushstrokes.

Paintings by Trowell hang in public and private collections worldwide. He has travelled extensively, painting most of the great racecourses in Europe and the USA and regularly receives significant international racing commissions. He is also in great demand for commissioned portraits, of people, dogs and horses, where his individual style once again catches the very essence and character of his subject.