Lot 179: John Frederick Herring, Sen. (Blackfriars 1795-1865 Tunbridge Wells)

John Frederick Herring, Sen. (Blackfriars 1795-1865 Tunbridge Wells)
The Earl of Egremont's Camel and Lord Grosvenor's Banter
signed and dated 'J.F.Herring Senr. 1844' (lower right) and inscribed 'Camel' (lower left) and 'Banter' (lower right)
oil on canvas
18 x 28 in. (45.8 x 71.1 cm.)

O. Beckett, J.F. Herring & Sons, London, 1981, p. 114 and 129, no. 157.

with Arthur Ackermann & Sons, London, 1979.

PROPERTY FROM THE HENRYK R. DE KWIATKOWSKI FAMILY COLLECTION

Bred and owned by Lord Egremont, Camel, foaled by Whalebone out of Selim, was a racehorse of great power and stamina. Camel's best win was the Port Stakes at Newmarket. He was a champion stallion and most famous as the sire of two St. Leger winners, Touchstone and Lancelot. Another son of Camel was Caravan, a very high class colt who finished second to Phosphorus in the 1837 Derby. Camel was Champion Sire in 1838 and second to Priam in 1840. His owner, Mr Theobald refused an offer of 5,000 guineas from the Americans for his horse. The great surgeon, Bransby Cooper, maintained that he had never examined a more powerful piece of equine anatomy. He died in 1844 aged 23.

Banter, was bred by Robert, the (2nd) Earl of Grosvenor, later Marquis of Westminster, in 1826, from Boadicea (1807), an Alexander mare he had purchased from Lord Wilton. Boadicea's brown, 15.2 hand daughter Banter, by Master Henry, was born in 1826, and won two races before being retired to the Grosvenor stud. Her first foal, to the cover of Camel, was Touchstone, born in 1831. Touchstone was one of the best horses of his generation and one of the most influential sires of the mid-19th century, being champion stallion on four occasions. His stock took 3 Derbys and a total of 738 races. His brother, Launcelot, born in 1837, was to win the Doncaster St. Leger in 1840. Banter's daughter Sarcasm (1833, by Teniers) was to produce another St. Leger winner, the sturdy Satirist (1838, by Pantaloon). Another daughter, Pasquinade (1839), sister to Touchstone and Launcelot, became an excellent producer and is seen tail-female in the pedigrees of such horses as brothers Sheshoong (1956) and leading sire Charlottesville (1957), and the influential grey Irish sire Tetratema and his brothers.

Herring also painted another version of Camel and Banter which was engraved by J. Harris for The British Stud in 1845. Another version is in the William Woodward Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art.