Yale Center for British Art

Creator:: Sir John Lavery, 1856–1941, Irish
Title:: String Out Exercising at Newmarket, 1913
Date:: 1913
Materials & Techniques:: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:: 25 x 30 1/8 inches (63.5 x 76.5 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Copyright Undetermined
Accession Number:: B1996.22.30
Gallery Label:: John Lavery was invited by the racehorse owner Edward George Villiers Stanley, seventeenth Earl of Derby, to visit Newmarket in the autumn of 1913. While setting up his easel to paint the horses and riders en plein air, the artist was mistaken for a bookie erecting his blackboard and was ordered to move on by a policeman. By the time his identity was established, Lavery had lost his view and decided instead to focus on the overall pageantry, showing here, for instance, horses being exercised in the environs of the racecourse. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016