Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Paintings
A Match at Newmarket, No. 1: The Prince of Wales's Traveller Beating Lord Grosvenor's Meteor over the Beacon Course at Newmarket
Perhaps through the example of his father, who was also a sporting artist, Sartorius developed an acute understanding of the qualities of art that appealed to racing enthusiasts and other sportsmen. With clear-headed pragmatism, he adapted his limited technical abilities to the specific demands of this market. By working with expedition, he was able to capitalize on the excitement generated by sensational races and up-and-coming horses. The present paintings document two high-profile matches held during the spring of 1790 over the grueling four-mile Beacon Course at Newmarket, Norfolk, for a prize of 500 guineas. These were one-on-one matches between horses owned by three of the leading patrons of the British turf: George, Prince of Wales (1762-1830); Richard, 1st Earl Grosvenor (1731-1802); and Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford (1765-1802). Sartorius had completed the paintings within months of the matches and, as with other popular compositions, he painted multiple repetitions of the set, all dated 1790. He further capitalized on public interest through engraving; a pair of aquatints based on these two compositions was produced by J. Edy and published on October 23, 1790.
The first painting in the pair (the present painting, 58.12) represents a match held on May 3, 1790 between Traveller by Highflyer, purchased the previous year by the Prince of Wales, and Meteor by Eclipse, owned by Lord Grosvenor. Sartorius shows Meteor narrowly losing the match to Traveller, with the trailing jockey raising his crop in the air to prod the horse to greater speed. The match was an upset, for Meteor had been favored to win. In the second scene (see 58.13), Sartorius represents a subsequent race run over the Beacon Course on May 8, 1790 in which the Prince of Wales's luck was reversed. In that race, Traveller lost to Grey Diomed by Diomed, purchased in 1789 by the Duke of Bedford. It was later claimed that more money depended on the outcome of the race "than was ever before known, or has ever been heard of since." Sartorius shows Grey Diomed with a considerable lead over Traveller, whose jockey raises his crop to urge the horse on.
Painting in a rather flat, straightforward style, Sartorius has provided the essential facts of the race and the setting, but not much more. The colors of the jockeys' silks and of the horses themselves provide the clues necessary for identifying the cast of characters. The flat, treeless terrain, with windmills visible in the background of the second scene, identifies the scene as Newmarket. The figures crowding the windows and roof of the spectators' stands represent, in radically reduced form, the great crowds of onlookers that witnessed the races. When the paintings hang side by side, the action is framed by the two spectators' stands, enhancing the mirroring quality of the images as a pair. The watchful figures also provide internal surrogates for the viewer, re-directing our attention to the race. Sartorius evidently liked the device, for it recurs in a number of his works.
The first painting in the pair (the present painting, 58.12) represents a match held on May 3, 1790 between Traveller by Highflyer, purchased the previous year by the Prince of Wales, and Meteor by Eclipse, owned by Lord Grosvenor. Sartorius shows Meteor narrowly losing the match to Traveller, with the trailing jockey raising his crop in the air to prod the horse to greater speed. The match was an upset, for Meteor had been favored to win. In the second scene (see 58.13), Sartorius represents a subsequent race run over the Beacon Course on May 8, 1790 in which the Prince of Wales's luck was reversed. In that race, Traveller lost to Grey Diomed by Diomed, purchased in 1789 by the Duke of Bedford. It was later claimed that more money depended on the outcome of the race "than was ever before known, or has ever been heard of since." Sartorius shows Grey Diomed with a considerable lead over Traveller, whose jockey raises his crop to urge the horse on.
Painting in a rather flat, straightforward style, Sartorius has provided the essential facts of the race and the setting, but not much more. The colors of the jockeys' silks and of the horses themselves provide the clues necessary for identifying the cast of characters. The flat, treeless terrain, with windmills visible in the background of the second scene, identifies the scene as Newmarket. The figures crowding the windows and roof of the spectators' stands represent, in radically reduced form, the great crowds of onlookers that witnessed the races. When the paintings hang side by side, the action is framed by the two spectators' stands, enhancing the mirroring quality of the images as a pair. The watchful figures also provide internal surrogates for the viewer, re-directing our attention to the race. Sartorius evidently liked the device, for it recurs in a number of his works.
