Barrie Linklater (11 June 1931 - 24 March 2017; Birmingham, UK)
Born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, in 1931, Barrie Linklater studied at Woolwich Polytechnic School of Art and began his artistic career working in a London studio before leaving for Australia where he worked as a freelance for four years.

Returning to London, Linklater forged a reputation as a fine portrait artist and subsequently as an equestrian artist, his first commission in the latter area coming from HRH the Duke of Edinburgh during a sitting for a portrait in 1975.

Equestrian work has since been commissioned by Her Majesty The Queen and the City of London amongst many others. In all he has 13 paintings in the Royal Collection and his work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery.

In the 1960s, Linklater contributed illustrations to Look and Learn's adaptation of H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon in 1963 and later, in 1967, began producing covers and illustrations on a semi-regular basis.

His 1989 painting of the racehorse Desert Orchid was auctioned by Bonhams in July 2007.

The Ascot Authority commissioned him to paint Frankie Dettori riding all seven winners in one day there, in September 1996.

Linklater exhibited at London's Guildhall and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. He had solo exhibitions at Spinks and at the Waterhouse Gallery.

He was a member of the Society of Equestrian Artists and lived and worked in Berkshire.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery