After James Seymour Four Highly Decorative Prints of 18th Century Racehorses

A highly decorative set of four mid Century prints after James Seymour's originals of 1755 which were produced orginally by the Irish engraver Richard Hawston' They feature a) Portraiture of the famous racehorse Old partner, b) Childers the fleetest horse that ever ran at newmarket, c) The Portraiture of Crab the grey racehorse and d) The Portraiture of White Nose The early sporting artist James Seymour was born in London, the son of James Seymour Sr, a wealthy banker, goldsmith, diamond merchant and amateur artist who supplied the plate for racing trophies. The elder Seymour traded at the sign of the Flower-de-Luce in Mitre Court, Fleet Street, and was a member, with John Wootton, of the Virtuosi Club of St Luke, a gentlemen's club for artists and art lovers. Through his father, the young Seymour was introduced to the leading artists of the day. Although he had no formal art training, he learnt to draw by studying pictures and prints in his father's collection. His drawings of horses heads after Tempesta and Van Dyck are in British Museum. Seymour seems also to have bankrupted his father. Passionate about racing, he is believed to have owned racehorses himself. His earliest signed and dated racehorse painting is from 1721, from which time his output was prolific, indicating that he must have established a reputation professionally. Some of his racing and hunting scenes were engraved in the 1740s and 1750s. He counted among his patrons Sir William Jolliffe, Mp, and the 6th Duke of Somerset, who commissioned him to decorate a room at Petworth with portraits of racehorses. The room decoration was never completed due to a quarrel between the artist and his patron. One of the first true sporting artists in Britain, he had no other subject matter