The Conformation

Whistlejacket

The rearing Arabian against pure ground — no rider, no landscape, no excuse.

Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath

Stubbs sets the little grey Gimcrack against the bare sweep of Newmarket Heath, the rubbing-down house small on the horizon behind him.

The Horse Fair

Bonheur drives the Percheron dealers' horses through the Paris fair in a thunder of muscle, the grandest crowd of horseflesh in paint.

Mr E. J. Irwin's Foig-a-Ballagh, Winner of the 1844 St Leger

Irwin's Foig-a-Ballagh in his winning year, Herring dressing a champion in the plain honesty of the yard.

Priam

Priam stands to Herring in 1831, a champion painted with the plain authority of the parade ring.

A Cossack Horse in a Landscape

A Cossack horse alert in open country, Ward reading the steppe breed with the same anatomist's respect he gave a thoroughbred.

'The Duke of Grafton's Whisker in a Stable'

The Duke of Grafton's Whisker in the stable gloom, Herring counting every muscle in the low light.

'Memnon, 1825'

Memnon stands in the year of his classic win, Herring's conformation portrait cool and exact.

'Barefoot, 1823'

Herring paints Barefoot in his classic year, the coat glossed and the eye steady in a Doncaster light.

Lord Jersey's Middleton

Lord Jersey's Middleton stands to Ben Marshall in his winning year, a champion painted with sober certainty.

The Black Horse

Ward gives the black horse the Romantic weather Stubbs never sought, storm-light on a coat like poured pitch.

Two Horses in a Paddock

Two horses stand easy in a paddock, Stubbs reading the whole animal in the plain light he trusted more than any flourish.

The Racehorse 'Actaeon'

Actaeon studied in profile, Herring's line as clean as a stud-book entry.

Two Horses Communing in a Landscape

Stubbs lets two horses lean into one another in an open landscape, the anatomy exact and the temper unmistakable.

Self Portrait on a White Hunter

The anatomist mounts his own white hunter, painter and horse studied with the same unsentimental eye.

A Bay Racehorse in a Loosebox

A bay stands in the straw of its loosebox, Herring at home in the working quiet of the yard.

Newmarket Heath, with a Rubbing-Down House

The rubbing-down house on the empty heath, Stubbs painting the workaday ground of the turf with the gravity of a portrait.

Marengo

Napoleon's grey charger Marengo, Ward painting a small Arab horse into the weight of empire.

A Chestnut Stallion in the Grounds of Powis Castle

A chestnut stallion set square against the walls of Powis Castle, Ward turning conformation study into a portrait of rank.

'Pyrrhus the First'

Pyrrhus the First, held in Herring's steady hand — a champion granted the stillness of a state portrait.

'Amato'

Amato, the one-race wonder, held still for Herring in the single season his name meant anything on a racecard.

'St Patrick'

An early Herring portrait of St Patrick, the young painter already sure of a horse's build.

'Foigh-a-Ballagh, 1844'

Faugh-a-Ballagh painted in his St Leger year, Herring giving the Irish champion a stateroom stillness.