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BRITISH, 1795-1865
THE PHARAOH'S HORSES

measurements
diameter: 24 in.

alternate measurements
61 cm

signed J.F. Herring Sen. and dated 1848 (lower left)

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Collection of Philip Schuyler (1788-1865)
Thence by descent (and sold: Doyle's, New York, May 4, 1994, lot, illustrated)
Richard Green Fine Paintings, London
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

LITERATURE

Oliver Beckett, J. F. Herring and Sons, London, 1981, p. 143, the engraving listed as no. 353

NOTE

In addition to his regular employment painting a celebrated and lucrative series of Derby and St. Leger race winners, by the 1840's John Frederick Herring had become the Royal Family's favorite animal portraitist. In fact, he was able the turn one of the Queen's own Arabians into a frequent model, by buying him. Imaum, originally given to Queen Victoria by the Imaum of Muscat, was sold after she presented this splendid Arabian to her Royal Clerk of the Stables as a gift. Herring was the lucky high bidder at Tattersall's on the sale day.

The model for numerous of his Meopham Park works (see lot 162) it is likely that Imaum's noble profile was that used for Pharaoh's Horses as well. Perhaps Herring's most widely recognized image today because of the wide distribution and enormous popularity of the Charles Wass engraving, Pharaoh's Horses shows Herring's talent at capturing the strength and beauty that were the prized qualities of Arabian stallions.

Herring had experimented with similar compositions in the past, showing multiple animals at close range to their best advantage, describing each meticulous detail of coat, flaring nostrils, and veins to perfection. In a description of Scanty Meal, another oil painted in 1848, the Art Journal of 1850 acknowledges that "A group of three horses' heads variously engaged has long been a favorite theme with Herring; yet, although we recognize the same animals, their occupations are so diversified as to dispel the idea that he has copied himself"(Beckett, p. 143).

The differing positions of each head make for a successful anatomical study of a horse rearing, ready either for battle, or for the rigors of a long ride. The clear blue sky and crystalline water in the distance evoke the far-away land from which Imaum and all Arabians originally hailed. Certainly, English racing and breeding were to be utterly transformed by their arrival.

Philip Schuyler, an early owner of the present work, descended from one of New York's earliest important families. Philip Pietersen Van Schuyler, who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1651, became mayor of Albany in 1688, and went on to amass vast land holdings. During the Revolution, Major-General Philip Schuyler was counted among the Colonies' greatest strategists and was the victor at Saratoga. The Philip Schuyler who owned Pharaoh's Horses increased the family fortune through his support of the Erie Canal.

This famous image was engraved by Charles Wentworth Wass, and first published February 8, 1849 by James Gilbert, Sheffield.