Lord Canning’s Hunter (Saddled and Tethered)

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This painting depicts a horse belonging to Governor-General and first Viceroy of India Charles John Canning, Earl Canning (1812-1862). There are two paintings of ‘Lord Canning's Hunter’ in the Government Art Collection: this and another by an unknown artist, less skilfully painted and showing the horse ‘held by a native groom’ (see GAC 1420). The later painting is apparently based on this work and may have been painted in India. The artist of this work has yet to be confirmed but the painting closely resembles works by French equestrian painter Alfred de Dreaux (1810-1860), whose horse portraits were popular in England and who worked in the UK for a time, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1850 and 1851.

Canning bequeathed his property (including this work) to his sister's younger son, Hubert de Burgh (later Lord Clanricarde). On Clanricarde’s death in 1916, the painting passed to Clanricarde’s great-nephew Lord Lascelles (later Earl of Harewood), who married Mary, Princess Royal (daughter of King George V). It was later owned by Conservative MP Sir Arthur Evans, whose wife presented the work to the Collection in 1951.

Places

Subjects

fox hunting, saddle, British School C19th, horse, stable

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

British 19th century unknown

Title

Lord Canning’s Hunter (Saddled and Tethered)

Date

1850-1862

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 71.00 cm, width: 91.50 cm

Acquisition

Presented by Colonel Sir Arthur Evans, September 1951 [See 4002/41]

Provenance

Collection of governor-general and first viceroy of India Charles John Canning, Earl Canning (1812-1862); by whom bequeathed to landlord in Ireland Hubert George de Burgh Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde (1832-1916; Canning's nephew); by descent to Henry George Charles Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1882-1947; great nephew of Clanricarde and husband of Mary, Princess Royal) and on display at Goldsborough Hall, North Yorkshire; by whom sold through Christie’s, London, ‘Pictures by Old Masters’ sale, on 29 June 1951 (Lot 7; with GAC 1420 and two unattributed paintings), as ‘LORD CANNING’S HUNTER, saddled and tethered, in a stable’, for 18 guineas; from which sale purchased by ‘Graves’; collection of politician Colonel Sir (Henry) Arthur Evans (1898-1958) and Lady Evans; presented by Sir Arthur Evans to the Ministry of Works in September 1951

GAC number

1421