The Chaser: Sergeant Murphy

Details

HERBERT HASELTINE (1877-1962)
The Chaser: Sergeant Murphy
inscribed 'Herbert Haseltine/1959' (on the base)—inscribed 'SERGEANT MURPHY 1910.CHESTNUT GELDING.SIRE GENERAL/SYMONS.DAM ROSE GRAFT BY ASCETIC BY ROSE STOCK BY/PRESTON PANS BY ROSELEAF BY FRIGHT.BRED IN IRELAND/WINNER OF GRAND NATIONAL 1923.' (along the base)
bronze with brown patina
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high on a 11/4 in. (3.2 cm.) high marble base
Modeled in 1925; cast in 1959.

Provenance

Private collection, United Kingdom.
Christie's, New York, 3 December 1997, lot 61, sold by the above.
Thomas J. Carroll, Middleburg, Virginia, acquired from the above.
Estate of the above.
Christie's, New York, 28 September 2010, lot 68, sold by the above.
Red Fox Fine Art, Middleburg, Virginia, acquired from the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2016.

Literature

The Illustrated London News, vol. 86, March 29, 1930, p. 521, another example referenced.
Field Museum of Natural History, Sculptures by Herbert Haseltine of Champion Domestic Animals of Great Britain, Chicago, Illinois, 1922, p. 22-23, no. 8, another example illustrated.
Herbert Haseltine: An Exhibition of Sculpture of British Champion Animals, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1934, n.p., no. 9, another example illustrated.
M. Cormack, Champion Animals: Sculptures by Herbert Haseltine, Richmond, Virginia, 1996, pp. 30-31, another example illustrated.

Further details

To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Herbert Haseltine co-authored by Edward Horswell and Turner Reuter to be published by Sladmore Gallery and Red Fox Fine Art.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Senior Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

Modeled after the Chestnut Gelding horse named Sergeant Murphy, Herbert Haseltine produced the present sculpture as part of his famed British Champion Animals series. Bred in Ireland in 1910, Sergeant Murphy was originally intended as a hunting horse but instead competed in seven Grand National races in his lifetime. He won in 1923 at the surprising age of 13, a win that also marked the first Grand National championship for an American jockey. The horse's remarkable story was adapted in the 1938 Hollywood film Sergeant Murphy starring Ronald Reagan.

Other casts of The Chaser: Sergeant Murphy are in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

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