francis barlow was an english painter, etcher, and illustrator.he ranks among the most prolific book-illustrators and printmakers of the 17th century, working across several genres: natural history, hunting and recreation, politics, and decoration and design. barlow is known as "the father of british sporting painting"; he was britain's first wildlife painter, beginning a tradition that reached a high-point a century later, in the work of george stubbs. he was furthermore a pioneer in the history of comics by creating the horrid hellish popish plot (1682), a picture story about the life of ti…