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Follower of John Wootton A chestnut racehorse, probably Old Partner, held by his groom, standing in an extensive wooded landscape beside a classical ruin remnants of a signature lower right on the base of the column oil on canvas 99 x 123.5cmProvenance: Acquired by Algernon Dunn Gardner (1853-1929) from Fores of Piccadilly on 17th November 1917 for £150 and thence by descent until Cheffins, Cambridge, 1st October 2020, lot 48Old Partner, being grandson of the Byerley Turk, continued one of the most important bloodlines in thoroughbred racing in England. His groom in the present painting is shown wearing the livery of Thomas Panton who adopted it when he was appointed Keeper of the Running Horses in 1728. However, at the time of his ownership of Old Partner, Panton’s groom would have worn just blue.By the time the present picture was painted however, Panton and his partner Mr Cotton were no longer the owners of Old Partner, having sold him to Lord Halifax in 1726/7. David Oldrey, to whom we are indebted for his help with this catalogue entry, has suggested the error over the livery might be due to someone some years later producing a picture of this famous horse when in training, at the time he had become almost the best stallion in the country. The painter assumed that Panton would have used this livery at the time he raced the horse when, in fact, we now know he only did so after 1728.Bred at Brocklesby in Lincolnshire by Charles Pelham, Old Partner won 6 out of his 7 races. That only defeat in 1728 to Smiling Ball precipitated his being sent to stud. There, under the care of John Croft, Old Partner was named the leading sire of Great Britain and Ireland in 1737, 1740, 1741 and 1743. His notable progeny included Tartar, Morton’s Traveller, Traveller, Golden Ball, Cato and Sedbury.The painting is executed in oil on canvas which has been lined. The picture is in plane and the paint layers are stable. Some of the thinner paint passages show signs of wear and abrasion. Areas of old loss, raised paint and a few small damages have been stabilised through lining. There are areas of old overpaint across the surface, some of which are applied in a wholesale manner and have darkened with age. The varnish is clear, even and glossy but there are several scuffs and scratches across the surface and a light layer of dust.

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