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Lot Essay
This painting is close to the work of Peter Tillemans, an English painter of Flemish birth who trained in the Netherlands before travelling to London in 1708. His oeuvre was wide-ranging, including history pieces, genre and topographical scenes. However, by the 1720s he was working at Newmarket and rivalling John Wootton (c.1682-1765) as England's foremost sporting artist.
Of the suggestion that the two chesnut horses in the picture are 'Royal Mares', Volume I of the Stud Book records:
'Royal Mares. King Charles II sent abroad the Master of the Horse to procure a number of foreign horses and mares for breeding and the mares brought over by him (as also many of their produce) have been called Royal Mares.'
Whether this really happened is doubtful, but numerous early pedigrees trace back to something vaguely described as a 'Royal Mare', which is really a way of saying an Eastern import or the produce of one by an unknown stallion.
Of the suggestion that the two chesnut horses in the picture are 'Royal Mares', Volume I of the Stud Book records:
'Royal Mares. King Charles II sent abroad the Master of the Horse to procure a number of foreign horses and mares for breeding and the mares brought over by him (as also many of their produce) have been called Royal Mares.'
Whether this really happened is doubtful, but numerous early pedigrees trace back to something vaguely described as a 'Royal Mare', which is really a way of saying an Eastern import or the produce of one by an unknown stallion.