He was a renowned Ontario livestock painter. Now Ross Butler's collection could be sold off

Ross Butler of Woodstock, Ont., first came to prominence as a livestock painter in the 1930s when a number of Canadian horse and cattle breed committees hired him to paint their idea of a perfect specimen.

"For several years, he was known as the world's leading livestock artist, which was a thing," David Ross, 68, said about his late dad. "It was a genre. He was among the elite livestock painters."

Before the Second War, Ross painted ideal depictions of 11 different breeds, "standard types" as they were called — four dairy cow breeds, four beef breeds and two draft horse breeds. He continued painting and sculpting animals for many years. The bulk of them remain on display at the family farm gallery, which once doubled as Butler's studio before he died in 1995 at age 88.

But thanks to waning public interest, David, who lives at the farm and has run the gallery for some 30 years, is making plans to close it down. The art will be sold, bequeathed and donated, he said.

"The collection will be dispersed."

Ross was born in in Norwich in southwestern Ontario to a farming family. He had two passions: farm life and drawing.

"As a young boy, he was always drawing and doodling," said David. "But the farm life was always there." 

Ross, who eventually became a Jersey breeder himself, began specializing in drawing and painting farm animals. But his true talent was realized when he began "creating breed standards for domestic livestock in Canada," said David.

"He worked with different breed committees, such as Holstein Canada or Jersey Canada," David explained to London Morning's Rebecca Zandbergen. "They would develop what was thought to be the ideal specimen of what the cows should look like and he would paint that after it was approved by the committees.

"During the 1930s, that was kind of his 15 minutes of fame," said David. "It's a specific genre and fairly niche, and often it's considered folk art. 

"Because of that, he was not well known in the art world, but had a worldwide reputation in the agricultural community."

For the breed committees, Ross painted an Aberdeen Angus, a Hereford, a Beef Short Horn and a Dual Purpose Short Horn — all beef breeds. He also depicted four dairy breeds: a Holstein, a Jersey, a Guernsey and an Ayrshire, as well as two draft horse breeds: a Percheron and a Clydesdale.

Prints of his paintings travelled around the world, said David.