Samuel Spode (1798-1872) worked across England and Ireland, receiving commissions for racehorses and hunters. He moved around the country frequently, resulting in a magnitude of works and patrons. In 1826, he returned to England from the penal colony, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) where he had been working as a Cleric in the Supreme Court. In the years upon returning to England, and following the death of his first wife in 1827, Spode began to forge his career as an artist. His focus was on equine art, with portraits of individual racehorses and military horses, as well as scenes of hunting and racing. Spode went to Ireland frequently in order to acquire more patrons and also to fulfil his role as a racehorse trainer at Curragh Racecourse in County Kildare. He began to reside in Ireland and died in Dublin in 1872.