Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-90) was born in Vienna and came to England in 1862. He swiftly became a celebrated artist, whose ecclectic sculpture was much sought after. Amongst Boehm's innovations to sculpture in England, were his skilful portraiture and the bronze sporting equestrian statuette, already popular in Paris. His exquisite, polished racehorse groups were received with enchantment both by the artistic community and by the private patrons.
The present equestrian bronze group reveals Boehm's ability as a portraitist and as an 'animalier' sculptor, two schools which he has here blended with utmost skill and elegance. Moreover, it is a splendid example of the fine casting and finish Boehm exacted from the continental craftsmen he employed. This bronze was exhibited as The Hon. Mrs. Loyd Lindsay at the Royal Academy in 1868, number 1036. It is one of Boehm's earlier and most successful female equestrian bronzes. He re-worked the theme the subsequent year with his Princess Louise on Andrew and Adeline, Countess of Cardigan, however, the inclusion of the hound and the naturalistic ground in this 1868 statuette, add a greater degree of freshness and charm to the classical tradition of the equestrian group.
Harriet, Lady Wantage was the only surviving child of Samuel Jones Loyd, Baron Overstone. In 1858 she married Robert Lindsay, grandson of James, 5th Earl of Balcarres, who was created Baron Wantage in 1885. She was renowned for her modesty and beauty, and was a considerable landowner in her own right.