The Race Horse. Stallion, Vestris, 11 Years old, the Property of Mr. Hutchins of Cregane Castle, by Whalebone, out of Verennes, dam of Albert

Book Description

London: 1842. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Fairland, from a drawing by W.Nicholson after a painting by Shiels. 13 1/8 x 17 inches. A stunning image of a thoroughbred from David Low's famous pioneering work on the forerunners of all of today's most important breeds of horses, cows, sheep and pigs. This high quality hand-coloured lithograph is from David Low's 'The Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Islands', published in London in 1842. The work as a whole forms a beautiful series of very carefully observed portraits of the most perfect examples available of these historically important breeds: a highly valuable record of the state of animal husbandry at the start of the period when agriculture came to be considered a science. The artist, William Shiels of the Royal Scottish Academy, was commissioned to produce a series of paintings of all the significant breeds then of economic significance in Great Britain. These paintings were then used as the basis for the present work with the addition of Low's important and informative text. David Low, professor of Agriculture at Edinburgh University, produced this work as a reference for those interested in the infant science of selective breeding. His worry was that the relatively simple basic concepts of matching a breed to its environment whilst improving its productivity were not understood by the majority of farmers or breeders. With the help of a government grant from Earl Spencer, Low set up the agricultural museum in Edinburgh. Cf. BM(NH) III, p.1184; cf. Mellon Books on the Horse and Horsemanship 168; cf. Nissen ZBI 2564; cf. Wood p.442.

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