This charming early 20th-century English oil painting depicts ‘Laughing Stock’, a thoroughbred bay stallion.

Sired by the impressive ‘Stockwell’, often referred to as ‘the Emperor of stallions’, Laughing Stock was somewhat less distinguished. Despite winning various prizes, in 1872, the British Farmer's Magazine described him rather rudely.

“Look at his neck and shoulders, they don't belong to his carcass: then take him from where the neck runs into the chest, and let the eye follow the line until you come behind the elbow, where he wants at least three inches fall; then see how his belly drops to the sheath, in fact, the underline is more like that of a leggy hog than a horse.

‘Just tuck up his goots,’ as a Yorkshireman would say, and you have more daylight under him than you would meet with in a tour round the globe. Look at his short quarter, and how far behind him are those thighs, and hocks, not remarkable for size.”

For us, the less-admired Laughing Stock is even more adorable for all the criticism. He was bred by Sir Charles Monk at Belsay Castle and became the property of Mr James Moffatt of Kirklinton, Carlisle.

Held in a gilt frame with foliate, which is probably original.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 30” x 24” / 76cm x 61cm
Year of creation: c. 1910
Labels & Inscriptions: Inscribed with title on reverse. Supplier's label from C Roberson & Co Ltd, circa 1910-1920.
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Our reference: BRV1957