George Stubbs

Turf, with jockey up, at Newmarket
c. 1765
38 x 49 in. (96.5 x 124.5 cm)

This racehorse portrait was painted for one of Stubbs's best early patrons, the young Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke; he owned some of the most successful horses of the day, including the famous Gimcrack. Turf raced mostly at Newmarket, and the high point of his career was beating King Herod in a match for a thousand guineas on April 4, 1766. He was retired lame in 1767. The identity of the nonchalant jockey wearing Bolingbroke's colors is unknown.