A beautifully detailed horse head portrait of the racehorse Sunstar by Alfred Wheeler. The portrait shows the horse with a braided mane looking slightly towards the viewer to reveal the small star mark on his forehead. Sunstar was a thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1908 out of Doris and sired by Sundridge. He was described as a medium sized dark bay and was bred by his owner Jack B Joel. As a two year old he won three of his six races in 1910. In 1911 he won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Epsom Derby ridden by Georges Stern. His owner Jack B Joel most likely commissioned Wheeler to paint the portrait in order to mark the occasion.

Alfred Wheeler was born in Cheltenham in 1852, the middle child of the artist John Alfred Wheeler (1821-1903) and his wife Eliza (née Coate). His older brother James Thomas Wheeler (1849-1888) was also an artist. When he was still young, his family moved from Cheltenham to Walcot in Bath where he was baptised along with his younger sister Amelia in 1860.

Wheeler inherited his talent for painting from his father who taught him to paint and greatly influenced his style and subject matter. Like his father, he specialised in sporting art painting horses as well as dogs and often received commissions from important patrons including the Prince of Wales, Baron Rothschild and Lord Rosebery. They were known to work closely together with Alfred contributing to his father’s paintings towards the end of his life. As well as signing his works ‘A Wheeler’ he also signed his works ‘J A Wheeler’ which has sometimes led to his works being confused with that of his father.

In 1874, Wheeler married Catherine Muspratt and they lived next door to his father at Raglan Villas in Bath. Two of their children, Walter Herbert (1868-1960) and John Frederick (1875-1930) also became artists. By the early 1880’s, he had moved with his family to 3 Ivy Cottages in the Hanwell area of London, close to Ealing where his father had also relocated. After the death of his father in 1903, he moved to the family home at Bath Villa, 5 Manor Court Road where the studio was based. He remained living in Hanwell until his death on 27 March, 1932.

Examples of his paintings can be found in various collections and museums including the National Trust and the National Horseracing Museum.

© Benton Fine Art