HERBERT HASELTINE (1877-1962)

Part of his series of ten models entitled Champion Animals, the present work memorializes Herbert Haseltine's search for idealized horses, a mission that took him throughout Great Britain in 1921 to seek models. On his travels to various stables, Haseltine molded the animals he saw in plasticine, shipping his models back to his Paris studio to be fully realized.

Recalling the model for Suffolk Punch Stallion: Sudbourne Premier, the artist wrote: "The moment I saw Sudbourne Premier, the magnificent stallion of that famous breed of chestnuts, all my troubles were forgotten and my only thought was to get to work." (as quoted in M. Cormack, Champion Animals: Sculptures by Herbert Haseltine, Richmond, Virginia, 1996, p. 23) Another cast of this scale resides in the Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia, and a cast of the reduced scale is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.