Description:

Oil on canvas, 36” x 72” Signed, dated 1894

  • Notes: Exhibited: Kentucky Governor’s Mansion, April-September 2011, The Race Is On: The Kentucky Equine Exhibiton This lot is a rare and important 19th-century Kentucky painting. Despite Kentucky’s status as the horse capital of the world and its importance to the sport during the 19th century, an extremely small number of Kentucky track or racing paintings have come to light that portray this period. Robert Brammer and Augustus von Smith’s view of the Oakland Race Course in Louisville done in the 1840s is the most prominent one, though it shows the clubhouse from the street and not a racing scene. That painting is in the Speed Art Museum’s permanent collection and has achieved an iconic status among Kentucky artwork, gracing the cover of Jessie Poesch’s book Art of the Old South. Apart from the Brammer and von Smith painting, 19th-century Kentucky racing scenes are virtually never seen (and are sold on the open market even less frequently). Portraiture was by far the dominant form of painting in antebellum Kentucky. Edward Troye might have been the best conformation painter of the mid 1800s, but he never painted a racing scene. Henry Stull painted racing scenes in New York at the end of the 19th century, but is never known to have painted one in Kentucky. Carl Brenner, Patty Thum, and Harvey Joiner became beloved landscape artists from Louisville, while Paul Sawyier and Will Hunleigh did the same in Central Kentucky, but they never painted racehorses. Several less formally trained artists such as T.J. Scott and Wilhelm Eilerts attempted to follow in Troye’s footsteps with equine conformation paintings, but never achieved the same quality of work or following. This painting of Latonia is possibly the only 19th century Kentucky Thoroughbred racing painting in existence. In 1883, just six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, on Winston Street in Latonia, Kentucky, the first Thoroughbred races were held at Latonia Race Track. Hosting a spring and fall meet annually, Latonia became one of the premier racetracks in America, attracting as many as 100,000 patrons per year. Initially run as the Hindoo Stakes in honor of the Kentucky-bred racehorse Hindoo, the Latonia Derby was a 1 ½-mile test for 3-year-olds. Kentucky Derby winner Leonatus won the inaugural running of the Latonia Derby and the successful Lazzarone took the 1894 running. The Great Depression took its toll on Latonia, and on July 29, 1939, the track was closed, sold, and dismantled for a future shopping center in the city of Covington. In 1959, a few miles west in Florence, Kentucky, the new Latonia Race Course opened. It was renamed Turfway Park in 1986. In this painting, Waite’s view would be from where the grandstand was, overlooking the judge’s stand and infield. The background shows the hills before the land drops down to the Ohio River. This painting was purportedly used by Waite to settle a tab in a riverfront bar on the east side of Cincinnati and the piece passed down through the family.

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November 19, 2017 2:00 PM EST
Lexington, KY, US

Cross Gate Gallery

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