Charles Loraine-Smith, Horse Lead to Stables – Early 19th-century ink drawing

Charles Loraine-Smith Horse Lead to Stables

Prix ordinaire: €102,95

Prix soldé: €102,95
Prix ordinaire

Épuisé

Prix unitaire: par

View the full Collection: Equestrian Collection: Loraine-Smith & Charles Cooper Henderson

An original early 19th-century pen & ink drawing, Charles Loraine-Smith, Horse Lead to Stables.

An interesting sketch in brown ink by celebrated sporting artist Charles Loraine-Smith (1751–1835) of Enderby Hall in Leicestershire, a keen horseman known for his early hunting and sporting scenes. This ink drawing, and other similar sketches we have for sale, are likely studies for Loraine-Smith's work for print engravings, which feature humorous sporting and equestrian subjects and the interaction between man and horse—such as 'Proof of Bottom', 'Push Him up Tomboy' and 'Posting in Ireland'—where riders and carriage drivers tussle with the uncooperative horses in their charge.

On thin paper. The corners of the paper are clipped as shown.

Equestrian Collection: Loraine-Smith & Charles Cooper Henderson

This work is one of a fascinating collection of equestrian pictures we have for sale connected with two highly regarded horse painters: Charles Loraine-Smith (1751–1835), a keen horseman known for his early hunting and sporting scenes; and Charles Cooper Henderson (1803–1877), the preeminent painter of Victorian horses and coaches. Both artists were instrumental in developing the genre of horse painting, and achieved fame and popularity through print reproductions after their work. At a time when animal painting was seen as a ‘lower’ form of art, these artists were pioneering in establishing the respectability and status of the genre.

The collection includes signed works by both these artists, as well a number of interesting works by other members of the Loraine-Smith family: Charles’s son, Reverend Loraine Loraine-Smith (1784–1857), and daughter-in-law, Isabella—who were both keen horse-riders, and produced personal studies of horses and hunting subjects under Charles’s influence.

This collection also includes horse pictures by other notable names, such as Jules Léon Montigny, Henry Thomas Alken, Anthony Devis and Frank L. Emanuel. And there are studies after George Stubbs, James Pollard and Leonardo da Vinci.

The story behind why these equestrian pictures have come together is a mystery, but it is possible that the collection was at one time owned by Charles Cooper Henderson. Our collection includes a watercolour by William James Müller—and, interestingly, Charles’s brother, the distinguished art collector John Henderson, was an avid collector of Müller’s works. Together, these pictures, spanning the late 18th into the early 19th century, show the ever increasing British obsession with all things equine.