The Malcolm Arabian Signed and dated 1814
Oil on canvas | 122.8 x 153.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 400529
-
Schwanfelder was an animal painter of German ancestry but born in Leeds, where he spend most of his working life. He was made Animal Painter to George IV in 1815, presumably as a result of the success of this painting. This is one of a set three horse paintings in the collection, all signed and dated 1814: this single portrait of a racehorse, and a pair of slightly smaller format of unidentified or imaginary horses (OM 1070-71, 404368-9). Colonel Malcolm (1769-1833) obtained this horse when its owner, the Pasha of Bagdad, died in battle. The ‘Malcolm Arabian’, a grey horse, with dark mane and tail, is seen here trotting in a wild, mountainous landscape in which a group of Arabs converse on the right. This work has exactly the same nervous character as the horse paintings of James Ward (1769-1859), an effect which derives in both cases from Stubbs's many depictions of attacked or menaced horses dating from the 1760s. Signed and dated: ‘C. H. Schwanfelder 1814’ and exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year.
Provenance
Acquierd by George IV; arrived at Carlton House in 1814; recorded in store there in 1816 (no 408) and 1819 (no 464); taken to the 'King's Lodge' (Royal Lodge) in 1822; added to the 1861 inventory of Hampton Court (no 1151)
-
Creator(s)
(nationality) -
Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
122.8 x 153.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
155.5 x 185.5 x 15.7 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Subject(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Malcolm, an Arabian, the Property of H.R.H. The Prince Regent, previously entitled.