The Jockeys and the Champions’ Record · The Jockeys
Mr Arthur Coventry, 'The Baby' (Vanity Fair)
Leslie Ward ('Spy'), chromolithograph, Vanity Fair, 1884 · chromolithograph
What it is
Arthur Coventry set down full-length in day clothes rather than silks, cane and gloves standing in for the tack he'd have carried at the saddling paddock.
Why it matters
Amateur riders like Coventry rode for sport rather than wages, and Vanity Fair's readers knew the difference; the nickname 'The Baby' pokes gently at a grown man who kept a much younger rider's cheek well into his prime.
What to notice
the slight cock of the hat, Spy's shorthand for a man who never took the game quite as seriously as the professionals beside him.
Elegance is easier to draw than money.
Provenance
- Maker
- Leslie Ward ('Spy'), chromolithograph, Vanity Fair, 1884
- Era
- The Victorian Turf (1837–1901)
- Chapter
- The Names on the Board
- Medium
- chromolithograph
- Made
- 1884
- Figure
- Arthur Coventry
- Source
- Vanity Fair caricature
Publicity
Clear — the historic British turf (the Victorian jockeys, the Vanity Fair subjects): a long-deceased figure with no post-mortem right of publicity in play. Sold as history, freely and openly.
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 1.87× from the surviving 1925×3200 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 24x36" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
The Jockey — Fred Archer
The Champion at Stride
Sam Loates (Vanity Fair)
Lester Reiff, 'Lester' (Vanity Fair)
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.