Lot Essay
Sir Henry Vane-Tempest was a keen racehorse owner and it was he who commissioned the monumental oil painting of his winning racehorse ‘Hambletonian rubbing down’ in 1800 from George Stubbs (d. 1806). The famous painting of the near undefeated thoroughbred hung for most of its existence in the breakfast room at Wynyard Park, County Durham, and is now displayed at Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland.