This carefully observed late 19th-century equestrian portrait by Thomas Henry Brentnall (1865-1941) depicts a bay racehorse standing calmly within a wooden stall, its head turned slightly toward the viewer. Straw is spread beneath its hooves, a feed bowl fixed to the wall behind, and a folded dark rug lies on the stable floor in the foreground.
Brentnall’s attention here is focused on accuracy and presence. The proportions are thoughtfully measured, the musculature rendered with care, and the coat built up in warm, attentive tones. The stance is natural rather than posed, suggesting the artist worked from close observation rather than from formula. This is not a society portrait of a celebrated champion, but a sincere attempt to record a good horse properly - to get it right.
Painted and signed in 1887, when the artist was just twenty-two years old, the work belongs to a brief but significant moment in Brentnall’s life. That year he produced a drawing of the thoroughbred ‘Prescription’, owned by H. Aubrey Beaumont Wallis, which was exhibited at the Spring Show in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and subsequently reproduced in The Illustrated London News. The credit “after a sketch by T. H. Brentnall” places him, briefly, within the national visual record and confirms his ability to record horses to a professional standard.
This painting appears to sit within that same moment. The careful inscription of his name and date suggests seriousness of intent, e.g. he was a young man testing the waters, to ascertain whether he could make it as an artist. Yet the trajectory of Brentnall’s life soon changed. The birth of his first child the following year marked a decisive shift toward stability. By the early 1890s, he is recorded in the census, working as a farm labourer, and eventually settling into steady estate employment as a woodsman at Nuthall Temple.
Seen in this light, this rare work becomes more than a provincial animal portrait. It is the record of a moment when artistic ability briefly intersected with opportunity, before giving way to the demands of family and livelihood. A young man working carefully, doing the best he could, with the time and means available to him.
The painting is signed and dated in the lower right and held in a late 19th-century gilt frame with a broad foliate moulding.
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Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 27” x 23” /69cm x 59cm
Year of creation: 1887
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Canvas relined. Craquelure in areas. The paint layer is stable. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Our reference: BRV2257
