The Eel Catcher
The basket traps in this painting are very similar to those in Pyne's Buck Baskets, which were used for catching salmon. As the traps depicted here were for eels, they were very much smaller and narrow, but both contraptions worked in a very similar way. The bung for emptying the trap can just be seen at the narrow end of the upright basket. Netting traps were also used for catching eels and were very much larger - anything up to 50 feet in length. These were lowered into the water using weights to keep the mouth of the trap open. Edmund Bristow was the son of a heraldic painter and, unlike many of his contemporaries; he appeared indifferent to wealth and fame. He seldom worked to order and sometimes even refused to sell his finished pictures. Bristow was probably satisfied with the distinction that patronage from the Royal family brought to him, working for the Duke of Clarence, William IV, princes Elizabeth and Prince George. He seemed, however, to live the life of a recluse and died in such obscurity that the Art Journal could find nothing to say about him for his obituary. Most of Bristow's best works are produced on a small scale. He excelled in finely detailed compositions such as the Eel Catcher, which are clearly influenced by the Dutch Old Masters. Bristow's subject matter varied, from interiors and still life's to sporting art and pictures of rural life which show, as in this work, a deep understanding of the lives of countrymen and gamekeepers.
