John Frederick Herring Sr.

Private Collection, United Kingdom

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work on canvas is unlined, and the stretcher is probably original. The paint layer is only very slightly cracked, and it is certainly remarkable for a work of this period to be unlined. The paint layer is clean. There are no structural damages. The varnish is slightly soft in the darkest colors. Although there may be a spot or two of retouching, none are visible with the naked eye or under ultraviolet light.
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Although John Frederick Herring Sr. sketched animals since childhood, his artistic career began as a painter of signs and coaches. In his spare time he painted portraits of horses to decorate inn parlors and his talent was eventually recognized by wealthy patrons who commissioned him to paint their hunters and racehorses. He went on to establish himself as one of England’s greatest Sporting artists, counting Queen Victoria and France’s Duc d’Orleans among his many patrons. With the dawn of the Victorian era, Herring shifted his style from racing subjects to more domestic, sentimental ones such as this painting of a grey horse in a stable contemplating a trio of ducks.