Conformation and the Parade Ring · The Conformation
Marengo
James Ward, oil on canvas, c.1824 · oil on canvas
What it is
Years after the wars that made him famous, a small grey Arab charger stands alert and riderless.
Why it matters
Marengo carried Napoleon through several campaigns and was small enough — barely over fourteen hands — that his survival past Waterloo, and his capture into England, made him as much a legend as any general Ward could have painted instead.
What to notice
Faint scars mark the flank — Ward doesn't hide the wear a campaign horse actually carries.
Some horses outlive the empires that rode them.
Provenance
- Maker
- James Ward, oil on canvas, c.1824
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1824
- Horse
- Marengo
- Source
- Private collection
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 1059×772 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
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.