Richard Ansdell (1815-1885) was born in Liverpool. At an early age he exhibited a natural talent for art and a particular gift for painting animals. He travelled to Spain with the Scottish artist, John Phillip in 1850 and then returned again the following year to continue painting. I am nearly certain that he never visited Gibraltar, as I can find very few paintings in which he uses the Rock or the nearby Campo area as a background - and these were all painted at least ten years after his last visit to Spain.
Richard Ansdell (1883 - Arthur Stockdale Cope)
Spanish Smugglers ( 1861)
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Spanish Smuggler - detail (1861)
Spanish Smuggler - detail (1861)
The top version, appears as a print in a British newspaper and attributed to Ansdell.
The engraving to the right is attributed to the Danish artist Niels Simonsen (1807-1885) (Undated)
Apart from the addition of a mountain scene, it is almost - but not quite - identical to the similar engraving attributed to Ansdell. It is hard to tell whether this was the result of a mistaken attribution or whether one artist copied the other.
The Road to Gibraltar from San Roque
Engravings - The Road to Gibraltar from San Roque (1866)
Goatherd on the Rock of Gibraltar (1871)
Goatherd on the Rock of Gibraltar
This poor quality digital copy shows a similar scene with a different girl mounted sideward to her right. It is also attributed to Ansdell.
Goatherd - Bay of Gibraltar (1874)
Another poor quality copy of a painting also attributed to Ansdell. It appear to depict a similar group people and goats as appear in the previous painting - this time looking toward the North. If the dates are correct - which seems doubtful, it was painted three years after the first picture.
The title is also wrong. That is not the Bay of Gibraltar but the western section of the Mediterranean known as the Alboran Sea.
The title is also wrong. That is not the Bay of Gibraltar but the western section of the Mediterranean known as the Alboran Sea.