By John Frederick Herring Sr.
Located in Stoke, Hampshire
John Frederick Herring Snr (Surrey 1795-1863 Kent) & Studio
The Pharaoh's Horses
Oil on canvas
Painting Size - 32 x 32 in
Framed Size - 39 x 39 in
Provenance
Frost & Reed, London, where purchased by the present owner
‘As a pourtrayer of the thoroughbred horse in high condition he is, and long has been, unrivalled; that beautifully healthy and natural gloss he gives to the skin – the real effect of being well-bred and reared, that union of strength and elegance – the perfect symmetry of the animal which he paints so life-like, so effectively, and yet so unexaggerated.’ (From Sporting Magazine, quoted by Oliver Beckett, J.F. Herring & Sons, 1981, p34-36)
In addition to his regular employment painting a celebrated and lucrative series of Derby and St. Leger race winners, by the 1840s John Frederick Herring had become Queen Victoria’s favourite animal portraitist. So close to the Royal Family was he that he even managed to buy one of the Queen’s Arabians, so that he could use the horse as a regular model. This beautiful grey was named Imaum, originally given to Queen Victoria by the Imaum of Muscat. This splendid beast was presented to her Royal Clerk of the Stables as a gift and subsequently sold at Tattersall’s, where Herring was the highest bidder. Imaum was the model for numerous pictures by Herring painted at his home, Meopham Park, including Shoeing Imaum of 1856 (sold in these rooms 15 December 2009, lot 66 for £481,000). Imaum’s noble profile was used for all three beautiful steeds in Pharaoh’s Horses...
Category
19th Century Victorian Year of the Fire Horse
