G. and C. Hunt after J. F. Herring

James Nunn on his Favourite Old Hack, Foreman many years to W. Chaplin Esq.

27 x 23 inches

An aquatint in full original colour; engraved by George and Charles Hunt after the painting by John Francis Herring and published in London by John Moore circa 1835.

The original painting by Herring dates from 1834 so, although the print is marked as a Proof and not dated, we can assume it was published a year later in 1835 as was so often the custom. The image is a delightful one in that it depicts not a famous jockey or nobleman but an altogether more humble sitter, the eponymous James Nunn. Little is known of Mr. Nunn save that he was the foreman of William Chaplin and enjoyed hacking around his master's estate on this rather magnificent black stallion. Horse and rider are set against the rolling English countryside with a church steeple just visible in the trees beyond. The relative anonymity of the sitter belies the fact that this print is a combination of the finest equestrian artists of the age whose work dominated the field throughout the middle of the C19th.