Aquatint, Lithograph, and the Instant · At the Rail
The Cambridgeshire Stakes, Newmarket, 1849
Henry Thomas Alken, oil on canvas, 1849 · oil on canvas
What it is
The Cambridgeshire field comes down the Newmarket straight in a packed line, Alken counting silks rather than lengths.
Why it matters
By 1849 the Cambridgeshire was already the great autumn handicap that filled Newmarket's stands — a field this size was the draw, not any single horse inside it.
What to notice
the tangle of colours three and four deep, no single winner yet declared by the paint.
A big field makes its own weather.
Provenance
- Maker
- Henry Thomas Alken, oil on canvas, 1849
- Era
- The Victorian Turf (1837–1901)
- Chapter
- The String at Full Stretch
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1849
- Source
- National Trust (515758)
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 1200×805 scan by AI enhancement (Claid smart-enhance), prepared for the considered detail of a print viewed at distance. The source record above is unchanged — the enhancement serves the wall, not the archive.
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the work’s own year of publication. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-20.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 18x24" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
Steeplechasing — The Start
‘Elis’, Winner of the St Leger, 1836
Fores’s National Sports — The Run In
The Trotting Mare Nancy Hanks
Elsewhere in the family
- The Links — the other morning religion.
- Painted Lineage — the bloodline, beside the family line.
- Painted Earth — home ground as a period map.