Circus horses

The artist travelled with Lord John Sanger's Circus, one of the largest during the inter-war years, for several seasons during the late 1920s and early 1930s. She loved living amongst people who had no roots or restrictions and led an exciting, unpredictable life, while the cosmopolitan group of performers with their families in tow, the performing animals and the constant hustle and bustle of circus life provided her with a colourful and varied subject matter for her paintings. The circus horses, particularly the beautiful Hanovarian Creams, were her favourite subject. 'I love their rows of kind faces as they stand tied in the long horse tents. They are all known by name and spoken of as friends. The cream horses ... are a great feature of this circus and are wonderfully trained. There is a long procession of them ranging from Royal a great creature 17 hands high, down to quite little ponies, all with blue eyes and pink skins and chestnut coloured tails, almost unique in shape and colour and now I believe almost unprocurable'. She painted the Sanger horses and ponies in many settings: stabled in their stripey tents as in Stars at Leisure (1928-30); on their way to the Big Top as in Aristocrats (1928); and performing in the ring as in the present work (see L. Wortley, Lucy Elizabeth Kemp-Welch 1869-1958 The Spirit of the Horse, London, 1997, pp. 154-67).