Background
Bristow was born in Eton, Berkshire, the son of an heraldic painter.
Bristow was born in Eton, Berkshire, the son of an heraldic painter.
At an early age he was patronised by the Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV), and others He made sketches of well-known characters in Eton and Windsor, painted still life, interiors, and domestic and sporting subjects. In 1809 he exhibited a painting, "Smith shoeing a Horse", at the Royal Academy, and was an occasional exhibitor there and at the British Institution, and Society of British Artists, until the year 1838, when he exhibited the "Donkey Race" at the latter"s gallery in Suffolk Street.
Bristowe was an eccentric man of independent spirit and worked only when the spirit moved him – not to order.
He sometimes refused even to sell his finished works. He excelled in the drawing of monkeys, cats, and horses.
Bristow produced little during the fifteen years immediately preceding his death, which took place at Eton on 12 February 1876, at the age of 89.