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Dimensions: 25 by 64 in.; 63.5 by 162.5cm
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Provenance: PROPERTY OF A LADY
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman"), London, Christie's, June 22, 1951, lot 68, to
Frost and Reed, London;
From whom purchased by the family of the present collector.
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Literature: Major Guy Paget, The Melton Mowbray of John Ferneley, 1931, p. 135, under no. 243.
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Notes: In the present Finish of the Match Race the artist has preserved for posterity the celebrated race between Sir Francis Holyoake's, Clinker and Lord Kennedy's Radical which took place on March 31st, 1826. The race was over four miles long and ran from Barkby Holt to Billesdon Coplow. The stake was for the total sum of 525 pounds sterling.
In this panoramic landscape, Ferneley has captured the horse and rider as they approach the finish line at Billesdon Coplow. The spectators enthusiastically crowd around cheering the owner on his triumph. A young man has even gone to the great lengths of climbing a tree to get a better view of the bay stallion and his rider. The tumultuous events of this race are recorded by Major Guy Paget (see Literature below) where he describes the unfortunate moment when both competitors made for a gap beside a gate. The horses became tangled together and Douglas was thrown from his mount. By the time he remounted, Clinker was two fields ahead but Radical quickly closed the gap. The race was lost when Radical fell into a ditch, where he remained, until after Clinker passed the finish line, victorious.
This is not only a panoramic landscape of a sporting event but also a wonderful narrative of the social pastimes and fashions of the period. At the far left of the composition, for example, there is a jovial group of spectators, dressed in the latest styles of top hats and bonnets, waiving and cheering and clearly enjoying their afternoon in the country. The artist has even added a personal element to the composition; it is suggested that his daughter, in a white bonnet with a blue ribbon, is seated astride a pony in the foreground at left. Clearly this was an event enjoyed by people of all ages.
At the time Ferneley painted this picture, Melton Mowbray, in the county of Leicester, was the rapidly gaining popularity for hunting and racing. Royalty and nobility from all over England came to Melton Mowbray to participate in meets such as The Quorn, The Belvoir and the Cottesmore. Ferneley's surrounding environment was ripe with subject matter and wealthy patrons to pay for his paintings. In fact, most of his horse portraits were commissioned by owners and later engraved.
Known as "The Sport of Kings", horse racing was in existence since the time of the Romans but it was under the English monarchy's patronage that the sport flourished. King Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I both had racing stables. James I created the Newmarket racecourse in the early part of the 17th Century. However, it was in the reign of Charles II that racing gained the prestige it enjoys today. It was during this period that the first Arabian stallions were imported and it is from these horses that modern day Thoroughbreds are descended. In fact, Clinker is a descendant of the legendary Godolphin Arabian, a stallion belonging to the Earl of Godolphin.
By the 18th Century, racing was systematically organized and regulated. The famed St. Leger Stakes and the Two Thousand Guineas "Classics" were established. A common type of race in the 18th century was the "match" race, such as is depicted in the present Finish of the Match Race. In this type of race, one gentleman matched his horse against another's, and usually for a large stake.
English artists from Sartorious to Pollard specialized in capturing the excited atmosphere of the race and the Englishman's love of country life and leisurely pastimes. These artists depicted the famous races, as well as the horses, owners and riders involved in the event. While the landed gentry and upper classes were the main patrons and collectors of sporting pictures, people of lesser means were equally interested in taking home a piece of sporting history. Sporting art was in such high demand that artists began to engrave their works, thus making it possible for a broad constituency to share in this exciting collecting field.
Captain Horatio Ross commissioned Ferneley to paint another work which captured the final moment before the great race, which is in itself a testament to the race's fame. That painting was sold in these rooms on April 9, 1999, lot 16, for a final purchase price of $1,102,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $300,000-500,000.
