John Frederick Herring Sr.

Commissioned by Sir Mark Wood, 2^nd Bt. (1794-1837) in 1833
CV Whitney
Mrs. E. Whitney Tippett, Upperville, Virginia
Mr. Jack R. Dick (and sold, his sale, Sotheby’s London, October 31, 1973, lot 15)
Richard Green, London, 1973
Sir Charles Clore
Leger Galleries, London, 1989
Richard Green, London, 1989
Mr. John W. Kluge, Morven, Virginia

London, Richard Green, Annual Exhibition of Sporting Paintings, 1989, no. 12

Oliver Beckett, JF Herring and Sons, London, 1981, p. 102, no. 60; illustrated, pl. 7, opp. p. 25

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work has been well restored and should be hung in its current condition. The canvas has a glue lining. The work is clean and shows no abrasions, which is extremely noteworthy. Under ultraviolet light, restoration is visible across the top edge that may correspond to frame abrasion. A thin line of restorations can also be seen down the left side. Within the picture proper, apart from a couple of spots in the pink clouds in the upper sky and some light retouches above the dark horse, there are no other retouches in the sky. In the foreground animals and figures, there are a couple of dots in the dark horse and behind this same horse. The condition is usually good for a work of this type and period.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Vespa was a dark brown filly foaled in 1830 by Muley out of Miss Wasp, and owned by Sir Mark Wood, 2^nd Bt. (1794-1837). She won none of her races in 1832 and started at 50 to 1 against in the Oaks of 1833, ridden by Jem Chapple. Several front runners faded until the race settled down into a duel between Vespa and the Duke of Grafton’s Octave. They ‘ran a very fine race home, Vespa winning by half a neck’ (Thomas Henry Taunton, Portraits of Celebrated Racehorses, vol. III, London 1888, p.136). Taunton comments ‘This was as slow a race as the Derby was a fast one’ (p.136). Chapple won both the Derby and the Oaks in 1833, a feat that had not been performed since Jem Robinson won each of them on Cedric and Cobweb in 1824. 

In 1834 Vespa, again ridden by Chapple, won the Oatlands Handicap at Newmarket Craven, beating the Duke of Cleveland’s Trustee by two lengths. She won the King’s Plate at the Newmarket First Spring Meeting and the King’s Guineas at Chelmsford, before being sold to Count Hunyady and sent to Hungary.

Sir Mark Wood was a leading owner in the 1830s. He came from a Perth family who descended from the ancient Wood family of Largo. His father Sir Mark Wood, 1^st Bt. (1750-1829) was a Colonel in the East India Company and Chief Engineer of Bengal. He owned estates at GattonPark, Surrey and Llandaf Court and elsewhere in Glamorganshire. The elder Mark Wood became head of the family in 1777 on the death of his cousin John Wood and was created a Baronet in 1808. The second Sir Mark lived in Pall Mall and at HarePark, Cambridgeshire. He died without issue in 1837 and the Baronetcy became extinct.

John Frederick Herring made another version of this painting, almost identical in composition and size. It has a slightly less dramatic sky and is signed at the bottom of the stable door, rather than at the top as in the present picture (see Beckett, under no. 60).