view raw text
ENGLISH RACING PICTURES The Old - Time English Artists Sartorius Picture of Flying Childers Stubbs Godolphin Garrards Eclipse Gilpin s Sir Peter Mr. Herring: His Gallery of "Cracks" and "The Set-To for the St. Leger" Mr. Sturgess in "Black and White" "Springfield" Mr. Harry Halls Masterpieces: " Birdcatcher," "Melbourne," " New minster" and " Stockwell" By W. S. VOSBURGH Since I was a more child collecting pictures of race horses has been, one of my hobbies. To one who finds pleasure in the Stud Book and Racing Calendar, and to whom St. Suburbans day is what St. Patricks day is to an Irishman, the dearly beloved forms of his four-footed "saints" on canvas, or on paper, are always an inspiration, like the music of the saddling bell, or of the bugle calling "Horses to the post" Priam," with the "red and blue" of Lord Chesterfield, and his peerless daughter Crucifix with the "skv blue and white cap" of Lord George Bentinck, look down from my -walls, with Touchstone and New-minster: Stockwell and Leamington; Fandango and Queen Mary; as well as Melbourne and his cat. represent the hippie patriciate of tie Victorian era, and the new forms a pleasant link with. the old in Lexington, Iroquois. Parole, Mortemer, Hermit and The Tetrareh; while albums and scrapbooks are filled with horse pictures good, bad ami indifferent. Tin; delineation of race horses has always been a feature of English racing fancy from the earliest timeKrathernioi-e- so. -then than now. Sartorius and iJlIpih were among the ITr st to -paint racers, followed by George Stubbs, Boulbee. Seymour. Garrard, Ben Marshall, L. Marshall. Abraham Cooper R. A.. Barringer, Laporte, J. F. Herring Dalby, R. B. Davis. Ferneley, Hancock, Aiken, Corbett, Turner, Landseer, J. F. Herring, Jr., Ben Herring. Sturgess and Harry Hall, lii France M. Gubie has shown .some wonderful horse pictures, but M. Emil Adam has long been the great painter of thoroughbreds. Sartorius picture of Flying Childers is familiar to most racing men, as also is Stubbs picture of Godolphin, Arabian and of Eclipse in racing condition; but the finest picture of Eclipse is that tnken in stallion form, the original of which was painted bv Garrard, and was in possession of the Tatter-sall family. It portrays the famous chestnut progenitor of our race horses in a shady paddock; the pricked ear and muscular quarters are conspicuous, but his shoulders are rather upright and heavy. Mr. Stubbs also painted Maiske, Glmcrack and "Mambrino, sire of our imported Messenger. Gilpin painted many, but his Sir Peter Teazle, with the stable lad making his bed with the pitchfork, is admirably natural. Mr. Ben Marshall, who succeeded Stubbs, was a great friend of the Chifneys, and painted Zin-ganee witli pleasing effect, hut his Emilias in condition was a sad-looking creature. Mr. Marshall was far more cltver in Ids pictures of jockeys than of the horses upon which they were mounted. This is conspicuous in his picture of Longwaist by Whalebone, in which owner, trainer and jockey are bcnutifullv drawn, as compared with the horse. Mr. Dalbv painted Blacklock for Mr. Watts, also Jack Spigot. Mr. Davies painted Mameduke, the Derby winner, which is marred by too many lines. The background representing the stable is an unique and artistic work, the effect being heightened by the open door reflecting the shadow of a man about to enter. ABRAHAM COOPERS PICTURES. Mr. Abraham Cooper, R. A., had an extensive practice up to about 1840. His picture of Camel is fine, displaying as it does uie enormous quarters and powerful body of Touchstones sire. His Plenipotentiary, the Derby winner, is good, but his picture of The Colonel, Oxygen and Mango are not so happy. Mr. E. Corbett painted Weatherbit, the sire of Beadsman, also Trumpeter; but Joe Lovell was Ills best picture. H. Aiken painted Cotherstone and the "Start for the St. Leger in Newminsters Year" a spirited picture. Sir Edward Landseer painted the mammoth portrait of Voltigeur, the Derby and St. Leger winner of 1850, for Lord Zetland, but seldom essayed the painting of racers. The same might be said of Mr. Ferneley "of Melton Mowbray." He painted Velocipede, and it is one of the finest efforts of horse portraiture extant. But he inclined more toward the chase than the turf, and his hunting scenes were his chief work. Sweetmeats pretty head and pricked ear, Orlandos massive frame and bloodlike beauty. Bay Middletons slack loin and rainbow neck. Margraves fiddle head, are among the memorials of Mr. J. F. Herring, who is regarded as the greatest of all delineators of the race horse. He began life driving a stage coach, but inspired by his Doncaster surroundings exchanged the whip for the brush, and Smolensko was his maiden essay. From that period up to 1850 he painted every great English horse of note. Partisan was one of his early triumphs, but Queen of Trumps being saddled for a race was as fine and natural as could be imagined. His Orlando represents the beau ideal of an exquisitely beautiful horse. Mr. Herring also painted the fractured Jeg of Spartan, a copy of which is before me a wonderful anatomical study. But of all Mr. Herrings portraits the happiest, to my mind, is that of Rockingham, the St. Leger winner of 1833, with the trainer at his head and old Sam Darling, the jockey, in the act of throwing off his great coat, revealing the "harlequin" jacket of Mr. Watts, but with the second colors the white cap which led the way home, despite Belshazzar, which was given the stables first colors and failed. His Mulatto is n fine picture, and so is his finish for the St. Leger of 1S28, The Colonel leading Belinda and Velocipede. But the series of "The British Stud" is finer. It portrays Muley Moloch meeting Rebecca in the alliance that produced Alice Hawthorne. Pantaloon and Phryne is another. Camel and Bunter are given as the union which produced Touchstone. But the most beautiful is that of Beeswing meeting the advances of Sir Hercules in a wooded paddock with a brook sparkling in the foreground. It was the union which produced Old Port, and proved that Touchstone alone should be mated with the dam or his sons Nunnykirk and Newminster. Mr. Herrings picture "The Set-To for the St. Leger" 1848 between Surplice and Cauezou is one of the finest efforts in the delineation of horses "all out" at the finish of a race; the ears pinned back, the nostrils distended, tell the tale of "pace complaint." His picture of Collingwood, I might add. is an ideal of the horse of great size. Late in life Mr. Halls efforts were not so happy. His picture of Iroquois which he painted for Mr. Ijorillnrd. while pretty, does not compare with Mr. Sturgess drawing as a likeness of the American-bred winner of the Derby. j Mr. Sturgess picture of Ormonde makes him a much handsomer horse than ho was. Ormonde was not a showy horse. Galopin was attractive, and St. Simon was somewhat so, with his indented profile, but he "stood over" at the knee, which rather detracted from his appearance. Springfield was a handsome animal and Mr. Sturgess had a good subject for the amazingly beautiful horse he drew of the winner of the first race for the Champion Stakes when: "They stripped him there, in the farther stall, A giant in staturs above them all. Hard of muscle, of sinew clean And bright ::s a star in his mirror sheen, Built like a castle above; below. Like tempered steel in the furnace glow, Bone, -ami tendon, and sinew showrv jfand -iSS"- True, and square, and firm oir his. feet,- Better to follow, perhaps, than to meet; A trifle high in the leg, you say? Theres scant perfection in mortal clay! "Now, a final polish on gleaming crest. And burnished flank, and he stands contest Typo of the courser of high degree; And all determined to Mo or dee; From his bottle-holder a parting sup, A taste of the sponge that shall neer go up, And readys the word like n pirate watch. With pointed cannon, and lighted match He shapes his course for the waiting foe, And the tug of war will be fierce, I trow, When Springfield battles with Silvio." Mr. C. Hancock is chiefly remembered for his picture of Glencoe in training, which has been reproduced all over the world. It is attractive, but his Sir Hercules does not compare witli tiiat of Laporte. He painted Mundig, Bloomsbury, Recovery and Faugh a Ballagh; also Attila, which is a horrible affair. Mr. F. C. Turner painted a beautiful picture of Crucifix, which has been extensively reproduced, but we fear flattered, for, while she lias been described as a lanky, wirv mare, he has depicted her as beautifully rounded and highly finished. He also painted the Irish "cracks" Hark-away and Cruiskeen, as well as Glmznee, Lancelot and Blue Bonnet. Mr. G. II. Laportes ina-stcrpiece was Sir Hercules, a delightful picture, representing the renowned old black stallion in his paddock, his head down, playing with a little dog. Mr. J. F. Herring, Jr. painted race horses admirably, but his taste led to beautiful landscapes, which were the backgrounds of his pictures; whereas a. horse picture should show more "daylight." His Vulcan, the Cambridgeshire winner, and bis Hobbie Noble, winner of the July Stakes of 1851 and the winter favorite for the Derby of 52, were beautiful studies. In this lie differed from the elder Herring, who was sparing of background as a rule, although when he made it he was felicitous. PICTURE OF KINGSTON SUPERB. Mr. Benjamin Herring made quite a reputation with black and white pictures. His drawing of Kingston after the latter had won tiie Goodwood Cup of 1852 is a superb picture of a superb horse, for Kingston and Orlando are generally considered to represent the ideal of bloodhorse beauty. His drawing of Stockwell returning to the scales after winning the St. Leger is spirited, the Marquis of Exeter leading him, followed by the usual crowd of admirers and his stable attendants. To write a history of Mr. Harry Halls race horse portraits would lie to name every turf hero of England from 1S45 to 18S3. The mantle of Herring fell upon worthy shoulders when Mr. -Hall tried his hand upon the gay and airy Birdcatcher standing in his paddock surrounded by a flock of pigeons. Then followed the massive Melbourne nosing his pet cat and a flock of game fowls scratching in the straw. Then came the leggv Surplice; then Knight of St. George, small anil lengthy; Stockwell of the mighty frame and fame; the dainty, deerlike Newminster; Blink Bonnv, of the drooping croup and bob tail; Fandango the Ascot Cup winner, long and low. the ideal of a stayer; Virago, the heroine of 54, and perhaps the best mare ever saddled in England; Voltigeur, black and buoyant; Favonius, blond and bloodlike; with Cremorne, ewe-necked and straight backed, but one of the horses of the century. The French artist M. Emil Adam has furnished more good pictures than any other European artist since the death of Mr. Hairy Hall. His Buccaneer, in study form, had a lot of character to it. The same might be said of his picture of Fenik in racing condition, probably the best colt of his year, bar Ormonde, in all Europe. The race horse Adam, imported to America by Mr. Franklin Bishop, was named for M. Adam, but a majority of the people here mistook the name for that of the progenitor of the human race, ami the nomenclature of some of his sons was chosen with that impression and with some amusing results. The old masters, the English in general ami Messrs. Marshall. Herring and Hall in. particular, lKirtraycd their race horses as having great length, in some cases amounting to seeming exaggeration. But, as I called attention in a recent article, the type of race horse lias ehanged within the last thirty or forty years. The old-time horses raced over longer distances, and the lengthy type was the result of that system. The modern horse must he a quick beginner and stride more rapidly over shorter "courses, and the type thus develoied is a shorter-bodied horse witli his legs well under him. Harry Halls picture of Fandango is represented as a horse of great length, "long and low," as they say. His Blair Athol and West Australian are shown as horses of unusual length. Possibly there was some exaggeration, but it is also quite probable that those horses were more lengthy than the average race horse we see today.
