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A day at the races - riders making their jump with spectators onlooking from a grandstand signed 'E B Herberte / 8(?)' (lower left)oil on canvas59.5 x 100.5cmFootnote: Edward Benjamin Herberte (1857-1893) was a sporting painter known for his spirited depictions of hunting and horse racing. Apart from the art he created, very little is known about his life. It has been suggested he was a native of Warwickshire, as several of his pictures are of the North Warwickshire hunt and some others are inscribed ‘Kenilworth’. He never exhibited in London and he is believed to have primarily painted for private commissions.Herberte was one of the first artists to depict women riding in sporting settings. Until the 1830s when the ‘leaping head’, the third pommel on the side saddle, was introduced, women did not have a firm enough seat to ride for long periods across the countryside clearing obstacles such as the ditches and hedges one would encounter on a hunt. Herberte often shows top-hatted women in their flowing skirts gracefully leaping fences whilst not infrequently, a man is crashing into the ground.Condition report: 84.5 x 124.5cm (framed)Oil on canvas which is unlined. The canvas tension is slack and stretcher bar marks have formed where the canvas rests against the wooden stretcher behind. One of the stretcher keys has become lodged between the canvas and lower stretcher bar at the lower right corner, causing deformation to the canvas. There is a small area of damage in the upper right quadrant to the paint layer although the canvas remains intact with a small deformation. There are localised paint losses at the lower left corner. The paint layer is in a good, stable condition overall. The varnish is slightly darkened and yellowed but even overall. There is a layer of surface dirt across the painting including fly spots.

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