Conformation and the Parade Ring · The First Stables
Lord Portmore Watching Racehorses at Exercise on Newmarket Heath
John Wootton, c. 1735 · oil on canvas
What it is
Lord Portmore watches his horses at exercise on Newmarket Heath beside a rubbing house, in John Wootton’s oil of about 1735.
Why it matters
Charles Colyear, later Earl of Portmore, owned racehorses and was known as Beau Colyear for his conspicuous dress.
What to notice
The heath runs flat to the horizon, and the horses gallop across it in a long, light line.
The heath, three hundred years ago.
Provenance
- Maker
- John Wootton, c. 1735
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1735
- Figure
- Lord Portmore
- Source
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection · via Wikimedia Commons
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.
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 2026-11-01. Wikimedia Commons licence tag, read 2026-11-01: PD-Art|PD-old-100-1923|deathyear=1764. The maker died in 1764.
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
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.