Historic equine portraits go on display at the National Horseracing Museum

The National Horseracing Museum has accepted three large historic equine portraits by British artist John Wootton (1682–1764) which is now on public display making the museum home to the largest UK public collection of Wootton paintings, with a total of nine portraits.

They were acquired through the Arts Council’s Acceptance in Lieu Scheme and were commissioned by Sir John Dutton in the 1720s, part of a series of seven equine portraits for his home at Sherborne Park, in Gloucestershire.

The horses depicted, Lord Bridgewater’s Ashridge Ball, Lord Harley’s Bloody Shouldered Arabian and The Duke of Devonshire’s Flying Childers, played a significant role in documenting the history of thoroughbred breeding, its patronage in sporting art, and Newmarket as the birthplace and home of British horseracing.

Wootton began his career as a painter of battle and hunting scenes in the manner of his teacher Jan Wyck (1645–1700) and rose to become one of the highest-paid artists in England.

During the first quarter of the 18th century, the rise in popularity of horseracing and breeding saw him develop a new genre of painting – the horse portrait.

Wyck can be credited with the first of this type, Swallow and his Groom Old William (National Trust, Waddesdon Manor), but Wootton made the genre popular.

Arab horses were imported from the east to improve bloodlines, and their scarcity, cost and difficulty to transport made them a status symbols for royal and aristocratic owners.

Wootton commemorated their achievements for display in the finest houses and palaces in the country.

One of his earliest portraits is of horses exercising on Warren Hill, in Newmarket, commissioned by Lord Harley in 1715 (Portland Collection, Welbeck Abbey).

Another depicts avid racing enthusiast Queen Anne and is currently on display in the History Gallery at NHRM.

Lord Fairhaven who made the allocation said: “My family and I are delighted that the Arts Council’s Acceptance in Lieu Scheme has benefited the National Horseracing Museum through the transfer of these three important paintings by John Wootton.

“Each of these horses was instrumental in establishing the Arabian bloodlines from which all modern thoroughbreds are descended.

“Notably, The Bloody Shouldered Arabian was the maternal grandsire of Whistlejacket, the subject of Stubbs’ magnificent portrait now hanging in the National Gallery.

“As a former chairman of the NHRM and former senior steward of the Jockey Club, this transfer also commemorates my family’s acquisition of Barton Stud in 1925, and our enduring support for the horseracing industry. It is our hope that these three wonderful paintings will now be enjoyed by a much wider audience’.

The portraits, which went on display on Thursday, April 23, can be viewed as part of general museum admission.