The Final Lengths of the Race for the Doncaster Gold Cup (Primary Title)
John Frederick Herring, Sr., English, 1795 - 1865 (Artist)
This painting re-creates the final lengths of the Doncaster Gold Cup race of 1826. The Doncaster Cup was first run in 1766 and consisted of four-mile heats, a common format for races in the 18th century. In 1825, the race was shortened drastically to two miles and five furlongs (a furlong is 220 yards). Shortening of the course sped up the competitions, and Herring successfully conveys the accelerated character of the races in his painting.
The racehorses are portrayed in “flying gallop,” moving at top speed with both their front and hind legs raised like rocking horses. More accurate depictions of galloping would come after the publication of Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of horses in motion in the 1880s. Herring’s depiction of a very close finish between the horses appears to presage the photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s claim that “in the near future . . . no race of any importance will be undertaken without the assistance of photography to determine the winner of what might otherwise be a so-called ‘dead-heat.’”
2018-2019: "A Sporting Vision: The Paul Mellon Collection of British Sporting Art from the VMFA", National Sporting Museum & Library, Middleburg, VA, April 13 - July 22, 2018; Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, June 15 - September 8, 2019
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
