Lot 72: DORA CARRINGTON

DORA CARRINGTON 1893-1932 CIRCUS HORSES oil on canvas 34 by 75cm.; 13½ by 29½in. Executed circa 1922-7, there is a Self-Portrait on the reverse.

London, Barbican Art Gallery, Carrington - The Exhibition, 1995, lent by Lady Anne Hill (unnumbered).

Noel Carrington, Carrington: Paintings, Drawings and Decorations, Oxford Polytechnic Press, Oxford, 1978, p.7, illustrated pl.24;
Jane Hill, The Art of Dora Carrington, The Herbert Press, London, 1994, to coincide with Carrington - The Exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, 1995, illustrated p.70.

The Artist's Dining Room, Ham Spray, Berkshire
Thence to her husband, Ralph Partridge and his second wife Frances
Gifted by Frances Partridge to Lady Anne and Heywood Hill and thence by family descent

The inspiration for the present painting appears to have come from a visit Carrington made to Austria in February 1922, where she sketched the Lippizaner horses going through their displays of haute ecole.

Carrington chose this picture to hang above the fireplace at Ham Spray. It was later in Frances Partridge's collection in London before being given by her to the Hills, old friends and owners of the eponymous book shop in Curzon Street.