Item #03267 Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster, John Frederick HERRING.
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,
Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,

Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster,

London: S. & J. Fuller at their Sporting-Gallery, 1827-1843. Item #03267

Twelve Magnificent Hand Colored Aquatint Plates
of The St. Leger Winners and The Derby Winners

HERRING, John Frederick. Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster, [and] Portraits of the Winning Horses of the Derby Stakes at Epsom. London: S. & J. Fuller at their Sporting-Gallery, 1827-1843.

Oblong folio (22 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches; 572 x 649 mm.). Average plate size 16 1/4 x 22 3/8 inches; 412 x 568 mm. Average image size 12 1/4 x 16 1/2 inches; 311 x 419 mm.

Twelve color-printed aquatints by R.G. Reeve and C. Hunt after Herring, Abraham Cooper and H. Hall, each titled with letterpress description, finished by hand in color and heightened with gum arabic, several with Minerva head blind-stamp (subscribers copies), all mounted. Housed in a mid twentieth century cloth clamshell case.

A fine collection of classic racing prints from Herring's second series of St. Leger and Derby winners.

The first and second series consisted of twenty-nine St. Leger winners and seventeen Derby winners making a grand total of forty-six hand-colored aquatint plates.

St. Leger Winners: (the numbers are as listed by Tooley).

15. 1829. Rowton (Aquatint by R.G. Reeve). No watermark.
Lower margin cut to edge of plate mark, some small expert marginal repairs.
16. 1830. Birmingham (Aquatint byR.G. Reeve). No watermark. 'Minerva Head' blindstamp on lower margin.
17. 1831. Chorister (Aquatint by C. Hunt). Watermarked J. Whatman 1831.
'Minerva Head' blindstamp on lower margin.
18. 1832. Margrave (Aquatint by C. Hunt). Watermarked J. Whatman 1832.
'Minerva Head' blindstamp on lower margin.
21. 1835. The Queen of Trumps (Aquatint by C. Hunt). No watermark.
'Minerva Head' blindstamp on lower margin.
25. 1839. Charles Xll (Aquatint by C. Hunt). Watermarked J. Whatman 1839.
29. 1843. Nutwith (Aquatint by C. Hunt). No watermark. Marked "Proof". Backed.

Derby Winners:

30. 1827. Mameluke (Aquatint by R.G. Reeve). Watermarked J. Whatman 1829.
Ink stamp of the Duc d'Orleans on right hand margin.
31. 1828. Cadland (Aquatint by R.G. Reeve). No watermark.
36. 1833. Dangerous (Aquatint by C. Hunt). Watermarked J. Whatman 1832.
'Minerva Head' blind-stamp on lower margin.
43. 1840. Little Wonder (Aquatint by C. Hunt). Watermarked J. Whatman 1839.
Outer margin (5/8 inch) backed. 'Minerva Head' blind-stamp on lower margin.
45. 1842. Attila. Aquatint by C. Hunt). No watermark. (with ink stamp of Duc d'Orleans)
Expert repair to upper left corner (not affecting plate mark).

Ex Libris Norman R. Bobins with his engraved bookplate on inside of clamshell case.

"John Frederick Herring, senior was born in Surrey in 1795... [He] spent the first eighteen years of his life in the city of London, where his father, an American whose parents were Dutch, was a fringe-maker in Newgate Street. As a child he showed an aptitude for handling both whip and pencil. Having married against his father's wishes, he went, without settled plans, to Doncaster, where he arrived during the races in September 1814, and saw the Duke of Hamilton's horse William win the St. Ledger. The sight inspired him to attempt the art of animal-painting, in which he subsequently excelled. At first he did not success as an animal-painter, but executed some satisfactory work in coach-painting, which led him to aspire to drive a coach. For two years he drove the Nelson coach from Wakefield to Lincoln. He was afterwards transferred to the Doncaster and Halifax coach. While he was engaged on that road, his artistic powers, which he continually exercised, were discovered and appreciated, and he received many commissions to paint horses for gentlemen in the neighbourhood. Inspite of increasing success as a painter of horses, he refused to hurriedly abandon his calling as coachman, and for some time drove the Highflyer coach between London and York. When eventually retired from the road and settled at Doncaster, he immediately obtained very numerous commissions. It was as the portrait-painter of racehorses that Herring earned his especial fame, and no great breeder or owner of racehorses is without some treasured production of Herring's brush." (DNB).

"In 1825 the Doncaster Gazette commissioned Herring to paint a series of pictures of the winners of the St. Ledger starting in 1815... W. Sheardown and Sons of Doncaster published these brilliantly engraved prints (by Thomas Sutherland) in 1825... Messrs. Fuller of London... continued the series until the mid-1840s. Fullers also published a similar series of Derby winners after Herring's paintings between 1827 and 1841... These prints provide a 'benchmark' in their quality of painting, engraving and printing which subsequent publishers attempted to emulate, but rarely with such success". (Charles Lane, British Racing Prints p.120).

Tooley, 261; Lane, British Racing Prints p.121; Mellon British Sporting and Animal Prints p.94; Siltzer pp. 145-147.

Price: $22,500.00

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