‘As a pourtrayer [sic] of the thoroughbred horse in high condition he is, and long has been, unrivalled; that beautifully healthy and natural gloss he gives to the skin – the real effect of being well-bred and reared, that union of strength and elegance – the perfect symmetry of the animal which he paints so life-like, so effectively, and yet so unexaggerated.’ (From Sporting Magazine, quoted by Oliver Beckett, J.F. Herring & Sons, 1981, p34-36)

In addition to his regular employment painting a celebrated and lucrative series of Derby and St. Leger race winners, by the 1840s John Frederick Herring had become Queen Victoria’s favourite animal portraitist. So close to the Royal Family was he that he even managed to buy one of the Queen’s Arabians, so that he could use the horse as a regular model. This beautiful grey was named Imaum, originally given to Queen Victoria by the Imaum of Muscat. This splendid beast was presented to her Royal Clerk of the Stables as a gift and subsequently sold at Tattersall’s, where Herring was the highest bidder. Imaum was the model for numerous pictures by Herring painted at his home, Meopham Park, including Shoeing Imaum of 1856 (sold in these rooms 15 December 2009, lot 66 for £481,000). Imaum’s noble profile was used for all three beautiful steeds in Pharaoh’s Horses, a triple celebration of equine vigour.

Herring had experimented with similar compositions in the past, showing multiple animals at close range to their best advantage, describing each meticulous detail of coat, flaring nostrils, and veins to perfection. In a description of Scanty Meal painted in 1848, the Art Journal of 1850 acknowledged that ‘A group of three horses’ heads variously engaged has long been a favourite theme with Herring; yet, although we recognize the same animals, their occupations are so diversified as to dispel the idea that he has copied himself’ (Beckett, p. 143).

The differing positions of each head make for a successful anatomical study of a horse rearing, ready either for battle, or for the rigors of a long ride. The clear blue sky and crystalline water in the distance evoke the far-away land from which Imaum and all Arabians originally hailed. Certainly, English racing and breeding were to be transformed by their arrival. The title Pharaoh’s Horses alluded to their ancient and noble heritage.

An earlier version of Pharaoh’s Horses dated 1848 (Sotheby’s, New York, 25 April 2006, lot 137) was engraved by Charles Wentworth Wass and first published 8 February 1849 by James Gilbert of Sheffield. The engraving proved to be very popular and became one of Herring’s best-known pictures, leading to requests for replicas of the painting from collectors. The 1848 version was bought by Philip Schuyler, who descended from one of New York's earliest important families.

Perhaps Herring’s most widely-recognized image today because of the wide distribution and enormous popularity of the Charles Wass engraving, Pharaoh’s Horses shows Herring’s talent at capturing the strength and beauty that were the prized qualities of Arabian stallions.