BADMINTON FINE ART

Over the years various artists have created paintings and other fine art that in one way or another are related to the sport of Badminton. While much of this work is early enough that it predates organized Badminton, the "battledore and shuttlecock" roots of our sport are clearly well represented.

This page is a pointer to selected pieces. Where possible locations of the originals are listed so that if you are in the correct area you can view them. If you know the location of other pieces or can augment or correct this page please let me know. Also in many cases it is possible to buy quality prints or hires bitmaps of the art. I have included selected links, though other sources are likely extant.

Please note that I have not included hi-resolution pictures of the various pieces since the intention of this page is merely as a reference. Find the actual artwork for better pictures and/or reproductions.

For centuries Battledore and Shuttlecock was a casual game played without a net by adults and children. During this era one often finds serious portraits and scenes that have battledores and/or shuttlecocks as props and sometimes as a major theme. In modern day art shuttlecocks are more often themselves seen as art and badminton becomes action art.
  Title: Portrait of a Young Girl with Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: c. 1620
     Per Wikimedia Commons the subject is Queen Christina of Sweden at age 6 in 1632
Artist:  unknown - Anglo-Flemish school
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:  1100x850 mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Two Women Playing Battledore and Shuttlecock.
Date: c. 1620
Artist: Adriaen van de Venne (1589-1662), Netherlands.
Medium: Watercolour with bodycolour, over black chalk, heightened with silver and gold
Dimensions: 96x152 mm
Original is located at: British Museum, London, England
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Le Jue du Volant
Date: late 17th Century
Artist:  Nicolas Arnoult (ca 1650- ca 1722)
Medium: print - engraving and etching on laid paper
Dimensions:  140x89 mm
Original is located at: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
Reproductions Available: All Posters
  Title: Courtesan Striking a Shuttlecock with a Battledore
Date: c. 1710
Artist: Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764)
Medium: Woodblock print, ink on paper
Dimensions:  650x320mm
Original is located at: Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin Ohio, USA.
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Elegant Figures Playing Shuttlecock in a Park
Date: ca. 1725-33
Artist:  Pierre-Antoine Quillard (1700-1733)
Medium:
Dimensions:   mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Diversion of Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date:
Artist: Nathaniel Parr (1723–1751) After Francis Hayman, (1707/8–1776), British
Medium: Engraving
Dimensions:  mm
Original is located at: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Girl With Shuttlecock
Date: c. 1740
Artist: Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (1699-1779)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 820x660 mm
Original is located at: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America , Barewalls
  Title: Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: c. 1740
Artist: Francis Hayman, (1707/8–1776), British
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brown wash, gray wash and graphite on medium, slightly textured, beige laid paper
Dimensions:  143x229 mm
Original is located at: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Reproductions Available: ??
    Title: Portrait of Two Boys
Date: 1740-42
Artist: Francis Hayman, (1707/8–1776), British
Medium: painting, oil on canvas
Dimensions:  368x279  mm
Original is located at: Gainsborough's House - Sudbury (United Kingdom - Sudbury, Suffolk)
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Games, Shuttlecock
Date: 1752
Artist: Giuseppe Zocchi (c. 1716/17-67), Italian.
Medium:
Dimensions:   mm
Original is located at: Opificio Delle Pietre Dure, Florence,Italy.
Reproductions Available: Art.Com
  Title: Young Thomas Aston Coffin with Battledore and Shuttlecock.
Date: 1758
Artist: John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1270x1016 mm
Original is located at: National Portrait Gallery
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Portrait of a Boy
Date: c. 1758-60
Artist:  John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:  1236x921 mm
Original is located at: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA.
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: unknown
Date: likely mid 1700's
Artist:  unknown
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 
Original is located at: Town Hall at Portmeirion, North Wales
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Henry Stawell Bilson Legge, 2nd Lord Stawell (1757 - 1820), as a boy
Date: c. 1764
Artist:  Adrien Carpentiers (c. 1713-1778)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:  711x610 mm
Original is located at: Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate, Gloucestershire, UK
Reproductions Available: Bridgeman Images
  Title: The Norman Gate and Deputy Governor's House
Date: 1765
Artist: Paul Sandby (1731-1809)
Medium: "Gouache on thick, cream, slightly textured laid paper"
Dimensions: 540x380 mm
Original is located at: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Portrait of sisters Frances and Sarah Delaval.
Date: 1771
Artist: William Bell (c. 1740-c.1804)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 2360x1475 mm
Original is located at: National Trust, Seaton Delaval Hall.  The Avenue, Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, England.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Boy with Battledore and Shuttlecock, Possibly of the Crossfield Family.
Date: c. 1770-75
Artist: William Williams SR. (1727-1791)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1347x910 mm
Original is located at: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: John Donnelly at 9 years old, Blackwater Town
Date: c 1775
Artist:
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:  1176x870 mm
Original is located at: Tennis Australia, Melbourne, Australia
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Fly . from "Songs of Innocence and Experience", plate 48.
Date: 1794
Artist: William Blake (1757-1827), British
Medium: "Color-printed relief etching with pen and ink and watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper"
Dimensions: 73x117 mm
Original is located at: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Children of Frederick and Ellen Ray of Abingdon
Date: 1795
Artist: John Downman (1750-1824). Welsh.
Medium: Watercolor with pencil drawing
Dimensions: 432x508 mm mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Badminton Victory (Divertimento per li Ragazzi)
Date: c. 1797
Artist: Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) Italian
Medium: Pen and ink, wash and brush over black chalk on white paper
Dimensions:  294x414 mm
Original is located at: RISD Museum, Providence RI, USA.
Reproductions Available:
    Title: Girl and a Hagoita (Japanese Battledor and Shuttlecock)
Date: ~1815
Artist: Kubo Shunman (1757–1820), Japanese
Medium: Part of an album of woodblock prints (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions:  202x184 mm
Original is located at: Met Museum, New York
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Children of Nathan Starr playing battledore & shuttlecock indoors. Middletown, Connecticut.
Date: 1835
Artist: Ambrose Andrews (1805- c.1877)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:  721x927 mm
Original is located at: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Bat Game in the Grand Hall, Parham Park, Sussex, c. 1600. From "Architecture of the Middle Ages", 1838
Date: 1838
Artist: Joseph Nash (1809-1878)
Medium: color lithograph
Dimensions:  mm
Original is located at: 
Reproductions Available: All Posters
  Title: James Donnelly with Dog, Badminton Racquet, and Shuttlecock.
Date: 1843
Artist: William Buckler (1814-1884)
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 550x390 mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available:

Auctioned Sep 2007 by Lacy Scott & Knight
  Title: A Game of Badminton
Date: ??
Artist: Johan Friedrich Hennings (1835-1898)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 770x1080 mm
Original is located at:  ??
Reproductions Available: 1st Art Gallery
  Title: Games with Grandfather
Date: 18??
Artist:  Alexander Hohenlohe Burr (1835-1898), Scottish
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:   mm
Original is located at: Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Scotland
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Shuttlecock
Date: 18??
Artist:  Alexander Hohenlohe Burr (1835-1899), Scottish
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:  495x737 mm
Original is located at: Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Scotland
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Boy Holding Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date:
Artist:  Jan Adam Janszoon Kruseman (1804-1862)
Medium:
Dimensions:  mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available:
    Title: A Game of Badminton
Date: late 1800's
Artist: Theodore Levigne (1848-1912), French
Medium:
Dimensions:
Original is located at:  private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: late 1800's
Artist: Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema (1852-1909), British
Medium: painting, oil on canvas
Dimensions: 914x609mm
Original is located at:  private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Promenade
Date: late 1800's
Artist: Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer (1839-1902), French
Medium: painting, oil on canvas
Dimensions: 858x1508 mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America
  Title: Shuttlecock and Battledore
Date: 1870
Artist: Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1065x445 mm
Original is located at:  private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Study for Battledove and Shuttlecock
Date: c. 1871
Artist: Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893)
Medium: Black and white chalk over graphite on brown wove paper
Dimensions:  235x368 mm
Original is located at: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Shuttlecock and Battledore
Date: 1872
Artist: Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 370x152 mm
Original is located at:  private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: 1872
Artist:  Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893), English
Medium: stained glass panel (glass, metal, paint, wood)
Dimensions:  1250x650 mm
Original is located at: Tennis Australia, Melbourne, Australia
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Shuttlecock Player
Date: 1874
Artist: L. Davis (19th Century)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: ?? mm
Original is located at:  private collection
Reproductions Available: Bridgeman Images
  Title: The Stray Shuttlecock
Date: 1878
Artist: Frank Dillon (1823-1909), British
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:  900x1270 mm
Original is located at: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: 1879
Artist: Alexandre-Louis Leloir (1843-1884) French
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 476x606 mm
Original is located at: Sold by Christies November 1999
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Young Ladies Playing Badminton.(Jeunes Filles Jouant au Nolant)
Date: c1887
Artist: Pierre August Renoir (1841-1919)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 546x652 mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available:

NOTE: This one sold at auction 7MAY2014  (local copy of article) for $11.4M.
  Title: Badminton Game, Whitchurch
Date: 18??
Artist: Fred Mayor (1866-1916)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 535x635 mm
Original is located at: Government Art Collection, London, England. Currently appears to be at British ambassador's residence in Brussels.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Girl With Shuttlecock. (aka Jeanne Bonnet)
Date: 1888
Artist: Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)
Medium: drawing- pastel on grey paper
Dimensions: 735x1010 mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Summer Shower
Date: 1888
Artist:  Charles Edward Perugini (1839-1918)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1156x765 mm
Original is located at: Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, England
Reproductions Available: All Posters
  Title: Open Air Breakfast
Date: 1888
Artist: William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 950x1440 mm
Original is located at:  The Toledo Museum of Art
Reproductions Available: 1st Art Gallery
  Title: Hide and Seek
Date: 1890
Artist: Paul Adouard Rosset-Granger (1853-1934)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1400x1800 mm
Original is located at:  Musee des Beaux-Arts, Marseille, France
Reproductions Available: All Posters
  Title: A Game of Shuttlecock
Date: 1892
Artist:  Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:  480x1170 mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Three Women Playing Shuttlecock
Date: ca 1890-95
Artist: Robert Anning Bell (1863-1933), British
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:  270x265 mm
Original is located at: National Museums Liverpool, England.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Battledore and Shuttlecock
Date: 189?
Artist: David Young Cameron (1865-1945), Scottish
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:  343x425 mm
Original is located at: Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Scotland.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: A Game of Shuttlecock
Date: 1900
Artist: Maurice Denis (1870-1943)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:  1270x3000 mm
Original is located at: Musee dOrsay, Paris, France
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Battledore
Date: 1906
Artist: Leonard Campbell Taylor (1874-1969)
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions:  256x353 mm
Original is located at: Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: The Badminton Court
Date: 1926
Artist: Frederick William Elwell (1870-1958), British
Medium: Oil on plywood
Dimensions: 915x710 mm
Original is located at: Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, England
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Study for Shuttlecocks
Date: c.1934
Artist: William Roberts (1895-1980)
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: 165x121 mm
Original is located at: Tate Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Badminton, Coonoor, India
Date: 19??
Artist: Andrew Macara (1944-)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 760x630 mm
Original is located at: private collection
Reproductions Available: Bridgeman Images
  Title: The Badminton Game
Date: 1972
Artist: David Inshaw (1943-)
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: 1500x1800 mm
Original is located at: acquired from the artist  by the Tate Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: Red Rag Art Gallery
  Title: Girl Sitting in Garden
Date: 1975
Artist: David Inshaw (1943-)
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: 470x450 mm
Original is located at: Tate Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art as a net With Shuttlecocks
Date: 1992
Artist:  Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Medium: Graphite and pastel on paper
Dimensions: 765x1016 mm
Original is located at: Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansa City, Missouri, USA.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Shuttlecocks
Date: 1994
Artist: Claes Oldenburg (1929-) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942-2009)
Medium: aluminum and fiberglass-reinforced plastic, paint
Dimensions: 3 pieces, 4600*6100 mm
Original is located at: Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America has various pictures from multiple photographers available as prints
  Title: Badminton. From the Olympic Suite.
Date: 1994
Artist: Rosa Serra
Medium: Sculpture, Glossy, gold-colored bronze
Dimensions: 800x600x440 mm
Original is located at: The Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Soft Shuttlecock
Date: 1994
Artist:  Claes Oldenburg (1929-) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942-2009)
Medium: Sculpture, canvas and wood, painted with latex,
Dimensions:  330x2030x2030 mm
Original is located at: The Pace Gallery, New York NY USA
Reproductions Available: original is for sale
  Title: Shuttlecock on a High Wire
Date: 1995
Artist:  Claes Oldenburg (1929-)
Medium: lithograph
Dimensions:  286x210 mm
Original is located at: Derriere L'Etoile Studios, New York NY USA
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Soft Shuttlecock
Date: 1995
Artist:  Claes Oldenburg (1929-) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942-2009)
Medium: Sculpture, Canvas, expanded polyurethane foam, polyethylene foam, steel, aluminum, rope, wood, duct tape, fiberglass, and reinforced plastic, painted with latex,
Dimensions:  9 feathers, each approximately 7900x2000 mm ; head approximately 1800x1800x1000 mm
Original is located at: Guggenheim Museum, New York NY, USA
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Soft Shuttlecocks, Falling, Number Two
Date: 1995
Artist:  Claes Oldenburg (1929-) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942-2009)
Medium: Graphite, fabricated chalk, and pastel on paper
Dimensions:  700x1000 mm
Original is located at: Whitney Museum of American Art, new York, NY, USA.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: What A Racket
Date:
Artist:  Russell Pierce
Medium: "mixed media"
Dimensions:  mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America
  Title: Badminton
Date: 19??
Artist: Tim Kennedy (1954-), American
Medium: Oil on linen
Dimensions: 1200x1000 mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available:
  Title: The Badminton Club
Date: 2003
Artist: Ralph Neimans (1970-), Australian
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 700x1020 mm
Original is located at: private collection, London
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Shuttlecock
Date: 20??
Artist: Tyler Kimball (198?-), American
Medium: glass
Dimensions: mm
Original is located at: Tyler has produced multiple similar shuttlecocks as a glassblower in Kansas City.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Two sets of a Paddle and a Shuttlecock
Date: 2008
Artist: Chihiro Coyo (1984-), Japanese
Medium: Watercolor on Paper
Dimensions: 370x260 mm
Original is located at: Japigozzi Collection, Geneva
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Shuttlecock
Date: 2009
Artist: Aoife Collins (198?-), Irish
Medium: photogram - silver gelatin print
Dimensions: 280x360 mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Badminton Player
Date: c. 2012
Artist: Paul Mitchell (1974-), English
Medium: pastel on paper
Dimensions:   mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America
  Title: Wild Badminton Birdie
Date: 2013
Artist: Max Johns
Medium: colored pencil and pen
Dimensions:   mm
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available: Society6
  Title: Sailing Shuttlecock
Date: c. 2013
Artist: Rocky Johnson
Medium: digital
Dimensions:  --
Original is located at:
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America
  Title: Badminton
Date: c. 2013
Artist: Jean A. Cormier
Medium: Acrylic and gouache on stretched canvas
Dimensions: 305x305 mm
Original is located at:  ??
Reproductions Available: Fine Art America
  Title: Badminton trunks
Date: c. 2014
Artist: Louise Bourne
Medium: oil on linen
Dimensions:  610x610mm
Original is located at: as of October 2014 is on display by the artist at the Gallery at the Grand, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. 
Reproductions Available: ??
  Title: Shuttlecock
Date: 2015
Artist: Sarah Illenberger
Medium: fine art print
Dimensions:  500x650mm
Original is located at: with artist 
Reproductions Available: From the artist's shop on Tictail
  Title: Shuttlecock
Kansas City sculpture portrayed using Representational Pointillism
Date: 2016
Artist: John Gilluly
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions:  508x406mm
Original is located at: with artist and is for sale as of December 2016
Reproductions Available: From Fine Art America on various media
  Title: A Little Help?
Sidewalk Chalk Art
Date: 2021
Artist: David Zinn
Medium: Chalk on Sidewalk
Dimensions: 
Original is located at: this is ephemeral art - original no longer exists
Reproductions Available: Temporary Street Art by David Zinn

(perhaps less than) Fine Art

Badminton also has figured in many political cartoons, flyers, post cards and so on that can't be considered "Fine Art" but are nonetheless interesting.

  Title: First Previous 2 OF 4 NextLast 'Political amusements for young gentlemen; - or - the Old Brentford shuttlecock, between Old Sarum, and the Temple of St Steevens'
Date: 1801
Artist: James Gillray (1757-1815)
Medium: hand-colored etching and soft-ground etching
Dimensions: 258x359 mm
Original is located at: National Portrait Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
  Title: A Game of Political Shuttlecock
Date: 1831
Artist: John (HB) Doyle (1797-1868)
Medium: lithograph
Dimensions: 286x415 mm
Original is located at: National Portrait Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
  Title: The Shuttlecock Ministry (Daniel O'Connell; Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt)
Date: 1840
Artist:  John (HB) Doyle (1797-1868)
Medium: lithograph
Dimensions: 298x437 mm
Original is located at: National Portrait Gallery, London, England
Reproductions Available: National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
  Title: Badminton, From the Geisha Series
Date: 1900
Artist:  Raphael Kirchner (1876-1917)
Medium: postcard - Color lithograph on card stock
Dimensions:  140x89 mm
Original is located at: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
Reproductions Available:
  Title: Badminton
Date: c. 1902
Artist:  Raphael Kirchner (1876-1917)
Medium: postcard - Color lithograph on card stock
Dimensions:  89x140 mm
Original is located at: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
Reproductions Available:

Useful References

Page maintained by Stan Bischof (stan@worldbadminton.com). Last updated 07 September 2023 16:45