Famous Thoroughbreds immortalised in paint to be auctioned

Leading Berkshire auction house Dreweatts, celebrate British sporting art.

Dreweatts auction house will celebrate British sporting art in their fine picture sale, taking place on Wednesday 25th March.

Curated by James Harvey, International Head of Fine Art and Private Treaty sales at Dreweatts, the auction features beautiful portraits of great Thoroughbreds by the sporting painters of the day.

The headline work in the sale, Mr John Bowes’ Mündig, Winner of the Derby Stakes at Epsom, 1835, is an exceptional painting by John Frederick Herring the Elder (1795-1865), offered with a £80,000-£120,000 estimate.

Mündig won the Epson Derby in 1835, the first winner to have been trained in the North of England.

Mr John Bowes’ Streatlam Stud produced a number of famous horses and Bowes won the Derby four times, the first with Mündig in 1835, when he was only 24 and still at Cambridge.

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Another of Bowes’ horses features in the auction: A chestnut and two bay racehorses belonging to John Bowes with jockeys up by John Dalby (1810-1865). This painting dates from 1845 is estimated to achieve £8,000-12,000.

A portrait of Isinglass, the best British two year old in 1892 and the sixth winner of the Triple Crown, is also offered in the sale. Of the 12 races he ran, Isinglass won 11. The portrait, by Henry Frederick Lucas Lucas (1848-1943), is titled, Jockey up, with white cap, and shows the racehorse with jockey Tommy Loates and is estimated at £1,500-2,000.

Other famous racehorses depicted in this auction include Sir Charles Assheton-Smith’s Cackler, by James Lynwood Palmer (1868-1941) and Bendigo by Alfred Wheeler.

The auction takes place at Dreweatts, Donnington Priory, Oxford Road, Donnington, Newbury Berkshire, RG14 2JE. The catalogue is available to view online at www.dreweatts.com