{"title":"Herberte, Edward Benjamin (1830–1893)","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdward Benjamin Herberte (1830–1893) was prolific and is very well listed as a sporting artist, known for his spirited depictions of hunting and horse racing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRelatively little is recorded about his life. It is believed that he was born Egbert Bertram Herberte in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He was the son of an artist, also named Egbert Bertram Herberte; it is possible he adopted a pseudonym to avoid confusion with his father. He was a pupil of John Frederick Herring Snr (1795–1865), horse painter, sign-maker and coachman, who ranks along Landseer as one of the more eminent animal painters of the 19th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAround 1861 he was living in Wolverhampton, but by 1866 he is listed as a scenic painter at Greenwich, London. He also began to earn a living around this time as a painter of hunting and sporting scenes. Much of his work was private commissions, for which he would travel, and he won several commissions from local hunts, including a number by the North Warwickshire Hunt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the mid-19th century, the introduction of improved saddles enabled women to ride sidesaddle across country and over fences. Herberte was one of the first artists to depict women riding in sporting settings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe died at Prestwich, Lancashire in 1896.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExamples of his work are held by the Berkswell Village Museum, the National Trust, Lanhydrock and Leicester Museum \u0026amp; Art Gallery.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"edward-benjamin-herberte-victorian-circus-in-the-ring-1885-watercolour-jx-794","title":"Edward Benjamin Herberte, Victorian Circus 'In the Ring' – 1885 watercolour","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn original 1885 watercolour painting, Edward Benjamin Herberte, Victorian Circus 'In the Ring'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis wonderful 19th-century painting depicting the Victorian circus is one of a pair that we have for sale by Edward Benjamin Herberte (1830–1893). Herberte was prolific and is very well listed as a sporting artist, known for his spirited depictions of hunting and horse racing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere we witness all the fun of the Victorian circus, as Herberte sites the viewer in the ring, along with his cast of characters: the side-saddle female rider, strongman, clown and ringmaster. The illustrative quality of his art brings the drama to life; and the central clown-turned-ringmaster (who turns his torn paper ring on the real ringmaster) looks out to us and points, as if breaking the fourth wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe other painting in the pair (see stock number JX-795) is a wonderful complement to this scene and shows the same performers backstage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis circus subject is rare in Herberte's oeuvre; it evidently allowed the artist to showcase his sensitive treatment of horses and talent for capturing lively narrative and spectacle. Herberte worked as a scenic painter in the 1850s and 1860s (in his native Midlands and Greenwich, London), so was adept at conjuring up atmosphere and a sense of theatricality. The vast majority of his output as an artist was hunting scenes, which also share a performative quality, full of energy and drama. He also on occasions painted horse fairs, such as Windsor Horse Fair in 1887.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe popularity of the circus in the second half of the 19th century cannot be overstated. By the 1880s the circus had become an art form that could be enjoyed by all, with huge circuses travelling across Europe and America, and acts had become increasingly extravagant, exotic and bizarre, from human cannonballs to aquatic performances in flooded circus rings. The origins of the modern circus, however, are deeply rooted in horsemanship, and the equestrian stunts performed by Philip Astley at his riding school in 1768. In the early 19th century the horse dramatics would include scenes from the Napoleonic wars. Larger circuses would often announce their arrival in town with a circus parade, the main attraction of which would be dozens of horses. Only later in the century did the range of acts expand to what we know of the circus today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHerberte was one of the first artists to depict women riding in sporting settings. During the mid-19th century, the introduction of improved saddles enabled women to ride sidesaddle across country and over fences, which Herberte newly captured in his sporting scenes. In the present circus subject, Herberte includes a woman seated sideways on horseback—the very inclusion of females in this performance sphere at this time was a challenge to contemporary Victorian ideals of domesticity and feminine propriety.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe circus—combining tradition and nostalgia with excitement, dazzle and awe—is a subject that inspired many artists and designers from the late 19th century onwards, including Impressionists Georges Seurat, Renoir and Degas, Walter Sickert, Toulouse-Lautrec, and in the 1920s, Dame Laura Knight. It also developed its own kind of visual iconography in the ubiquitous advertisements that would accompany the Greatest Show on Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn watercolour with gum arabic and with touches of white bodycolour. Presented in a smart cream window mount.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProvenance: Albany Gallery Collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Somerset \u0026 Wood","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52018308448585,"sku":"JX-794","price":680.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/4306\/5161\/files\/jx-794.jpg?v=1743505087"}],"url":"https:\/\/somersetandwood.com\/de-eu\/collections\/herberte-edward-benjamin-1830-1893.oembed","provider":"Somerset \u0026 Wood Fine Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}