Aquatint, Lithograph, and the Instant · The Sporting Print
Doncaster St. Leger - The Start
Henry Thomas Alken, hand-coloured aquatint, c.1830s · hand-coloured aquatint
What it is
The St Leger field breaks together at Doncaster, a wall of jockeys' silks let loose at the flag.
Why it matters
The St Leger had already run at Doncaster for six decades by the time Alken made this aquatint, and his print sold ordinary buyers the one moment they never got close enough to see live: the break itself.
What to notice
the jostling still visible along the rail in the first few strides.
A start is a promise the finish still has to keep.
Provenance
- Maker
- Henry Thomas Alken, hand-coloured aquatint, c.1830s
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The String at Full Stretch
- Medium
- hand-coloured aquatint
- Made
- 1836
- Source
- Private collection
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 987×688 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 11x17" 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.