Aquatint, Lithograph, and the Instant · At the Rail
'Elis', Beating Colonel Peel's 'Slane', 300 Guineas, Newmarket
Henry Thomas Alken, oil on canvas, c.1837 · oil on canvas
What it is
Elis draws clear of Colonel Peel's Slane over the Newmarket turf, the whole match settled by a length Alken measures precisely.
Why it matters
A 300-guinea match between two named owners' horses was a public settling of accounts, and Alken's job was to make the margin legible to men who had wagered on it.
What to notice
the exact daylight Alken leaves between the two horses, no more than the bet required.
A length is worth exactly what men will pay for it.
Provenance
- Maker
- Henry Thomas Alken, oil on canvas, c.1837
- Era
- The Victorian Turf (1837–1901)
- Chapter
- The String at Full Stretch
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1837
- Horse
- Elis
- Source
- National Trust (1271093)
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 1200×859 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.