1: ‘Sir Hercules’ and ‘Beeswing’

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This aquatint print is one of a series of images, published under the title ‘The British Stud’. Plates one to six were advertised for sale in the ‘Guide to the Turf’ in 1846. The advertisement read:

‘THE BRITISH STUD. A series of COLOURED ENGRAVINGS, price 1l. 1s. each, From pictures by Mr. HERRING, painted expressly for this work, Portraits of the most celebrated thorough-bred Stallions and Mares… Portraits of all the Winners of the Derby, Leger, and Oaks.’

Animal and military painter George Henry Laporte was born in London; the son of watercolourist John Peter Laporte (1761-1839). George studied under painter Henry Bernard Chalon. He lived with his father until around 1827, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and elsewhere from 1818. Laporte worked in both oil and watercolour. In 1834 he became a member of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours. Two years later he was made animal painter to the Duke of Cumberland. Laporte contributed a total of 43 plates to the ‘Sporting Magazine’. He died at 13 Norfolk Square, Paddington, aged about 78, leaving a daughter, Georgina (1852-1884). His wife, Eliza, predeceased him.
John Harris III was an aquatint engraver of sporting and military subjects after works by contemporary artists. He was born in London and may have been the son of the watercolourist, illustrator and lithographer known as John Harris II. However, it has also been suggested that he was the son of a cabinet maker. Harris remained in London for the duration of his life and worked mainly for the publisher Ackermann and Fores.

Places

Subjects

horse-racing, landscape C20th, tree, horse, river

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, coloured aquatint

Artist

George Henry Laporte (1802 - 1873)
John, III Harris (1811 - 1865)

Title

1: ‘Sir Hercules’ and ‘Beeswing’

Series Title

The British Stud

Date

published 1 March 1844

Medium

Coloured aquatint

Acquisition

Presented by Fores Ltd, March 1979

GAC number

14600