Washington Winter Show 2013

46 This page is sponsored by Anne S. Hansen and Nancy Sidamon-Eristoff those worn today [Fig. 15], and the Jockey Club, the first national governing body over the sport, was established in Newmarket. The first race course in America, also called Newmarket, was founded in the 1660s. English painters began portraying the sport in the eighteenth century, but equine painters did not gain momentum in America until the early nineteenth century with the resurgence of national horse racing after intervening war and anti-gambling sentiment. The last of a series of races in 1823 known as the Great North-South race was run at the Union Racecourse, in Long Island, NY and witnessed by 60,000 people, a pivotal moment. The winning Thoroughbred, American Eclipse, catapulted into the annals of history, making horse racing the first American spectator’s sport and providing subject matter for the first recognized American equine artists. Since then many legendary horses and sporting enthusiasts have won and lost at the races in a tradition that has lasted for over 350 years. Most are still firmly grounded in the country way of life. The consummate philanthropist, art collector, sporting enthusiast, and gentleman farmer, Paul Mellon said in 1989, “I began to realize that I had this farm with lots of acreage and lots of good pastureland, and it seemed a shame not to have more mares.” 14 His mares would produce over 1,000 stakes winners beginning in the late 1940s. Not just horse racing, but all country pursuits and the country way of life endure to this day as an immersion in a culture that celebrates and upholds the past and its pastimes. The paintings, sculpture, objects, and literature that celebrate this country life, and the accoutrements which accompany its varied pursuits, give testament to an outlook both timeless and relevant even in our modern age: From the heroic hunter of old, whose might in war might almost be measured by his might in the chase,…to the accomplished Squire of Melton 9 fame — there is something so animating in the descriptions of the arts and adventures of the sportsman, that we hardly know an individual, far less a class, who does not enjoy them with an amateurs delight…all that live, the denizens of the three elements, seem to be created for his sake alone. 15 All images are courtesy of the National Sporting Library & Museum, Middleburg, Virginia, unless otherwise noted. Claudia Pfeiffer is the George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Curator at the National Sporting Library and Museum. The NSLM is dedicated to preserving and sharing the literature, art and culture of equestrian and field sports. Founded in 1954, the institution has over 24,000 books dating from the sixteenth to the twenty- first centuries. The John H. Daniels Fellowship program supports the research of visiting scholars. The Museum, a Fig. 12: A rare set of four Copeland & Co. plaques (after) Lionel Dalhousie Robertson Edwards (English, 1878–1966). The Pytchley Hunt: Off to Draw, Old Berkeley Hunt: Going to a Halloa, The Beaufort Hunt: Full Cry, and New Forest Buck Hounds: Homeward, 1923 . Each transfer-printed and hand-painted on fired porcelain. Each 12 ⅞ x 18 inches. Gift of Mrs. Gerald L. Parsky.