The Bloody Shouldered Arabian, with an Arab attendant, within classical architecture, a landscape beyond oil on canvas 82 x 120cm Footnote: Provenance: Almost certainly painted for Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (1689-1741) in or after 1724 when he succeeded to the earldom, Thereafter at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, until the estate was sold in 1740 to Philip, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, 2nd Earl of Oxford's deceased sale, London, Mr Cock, 8th March 1741/2 and the five following days, Third Day's Sale, March 10th, lot 15, as "A white horfe, by Mr. Wooton"; Acquired by Algernon Dunn Gardner (1853-1929) probably from Fores of Piccadilly, Thence by descent Literature: Walter Shaw Sparrow, British Sporting Artists , London: John Lane, 1922, p. 110 According to Sparrow (see Literature) there were some nine or ten versions of this painting, which is not surprising since the Bloody Shouldered Arabian is considered one of the most important stallions in English racing bloodlines and since the horse had at least 3 owners in its lifetime. The present version however can reasonably claim to be the prime original since it bears the coat of arms of its first owner, Edward, 2nd Earl of Oxford, who was given it by his uncle, also Edward to whom it had been sent from Aleppo in January 1720 by his brother Nathaniel Harley, who resided there. The Harley family themselves had one other version of the painting which being today at Welbeck Abbey, must have descended through the 2nd Earl of Oxford’s only child Margaret who married in 1734 the 2nd Duke of Portland. That version where the coat of arms is replaced by sculpted relief figures, is signed and dated 1724. Yet another version, signed and dated 1723 was acquired by a later Duke of Portland for Welbeck in 1914 and this has since been sold from there. Unlike both those Welbeck versions, the present painting is unusual – as other versions included it – for having no dog in the foreground. The horse was named after the blood coloured birthmark down its right shoulder and foreleg, to which is ascribed a romantic legend (see Literature, Sparrow, p. 110). The Bloody Shouldered Arabian along with the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk was, as a true Arab horse, considered at the time a great status symbol, through the considerable problems and costs associated in bringing them to England where at stud they all unquestionably improved the bloodlines of subsequent thoroughbreds. For example, the Bloody Shouldered Arabian was the maternal great-grandsire of Whistlejacket, whose outstanding physical beauty was so famously captured by Stubbs’ portrait of him now in the National Gallery. Condition report: Oil on canvas which has been lined. The original canvas has been extended at a later date to include some of the architectural elements in the painting. The canvas is stable and in plane. There are some cracks in the upper left corner with raised and lifting areas of paint. The original paint layers are thinly applied in many areas and have suffered from wear and abrasion, resulting in different campaigns of overpaint. The varnish is slightly yellowed but even and semi-matte. The frame is intact but the gilding is suffering from flaking with scattered losses.