John Wootton (British, c.1682-1764)

A Bay Arabian stallion being led by a groom, a hound nearby, with a rider and grey horse watering on the far right
signed indistinctly lower centre left 'J W...'
oil on canvas
65 x 116cm

Provenance:
Acquired by Algernon Dunn Gardner (1853-1929) from Fores of Piccadilly on 18th July 1913, as of 'The Darley Arabian',
Thence by descent


Though much later prints after the present painting identify the horse as the Darley Arabian and show the animal as having three white socks and a white blaze, recent cleaning and conservation showed two of the socks to be overpaint and the blaze was reduced to a star and thus in the opinion of David Oldrey, to whom we are grateful for assistance with this catalogue entry, the horse cannot be the great Arab stallion, the Darley Arabian. He proposes as an alternative bloodline that of the Leedes Arabian, which was a bay with a rear left white sock as was his son, Leeds (or Leedes) and thus the present animal which from the clothes of the accompanying figures must date from at least circa 1730, or later, is probably the grandson or great-grandson of the Leeds Arabian.

Condition Report

Oil on canvas which has been lined. The canvas tension is good and the picture is in plane. The painting has a prominent network of age cracks, more noticeable in the sky where they have darkened with age. The paint layer is stable overall. There is some wear and abrasion to the paint layer. Areas of retouching are not extensive and are well matched to the original. The varnish is semi-matte and even with a light layer of dust across the surface. The frame is in a good condition.