James Pollard

Sale: Christies, London, 1913
Mr. A. Baird-Carter, England
Mr. A. S. Cochran, New York
Knoedler & Co., New York
Mr. Charles H. Thieriot, New York (by 1935)
Thence by descent to the present owner

The quiet, neat street of Pollard's depiction of the Clapham Common area belies the frenzy of Derby season, which annually overtook the area. As Leopold Wagner explained in More London Inns and Taverns, "'Ye Olde Windmill' on Clapham Common… offers a convenient halting place and parking ground for vehicles after the excitement of a day's run at Epsom Downs… it was quite the usual thing for 'Return from the Derby' to be celebrated in specially reserved rooms at the Windmill by a drinking bout until broad daylight" (as quoted in Charles H. Theiriot Collection, p. 211). Pollard perhaps wishes to show the calm before the storm of carriages that surrounded the red-bricked, conveniently located inn and tavern, as men and women poured through its doors. With meticulously observed detail, the artist brings to life the heyday of the so-called "coaching era"—an era enabled by the great improvement of roads (hardened surfaces) and of carriages (which combined style with sturdy construction, such as that entering from the left of the picture space), and roadside comforts promised by the Windmill Inn. Here, leisure travelers from England and abroad could stop, rest and enjoy each other's company either in reposed conversation or joyous revelry, ready to board the next coach destined for the stands of nearby racecourses.