A lovely sporting painting of a dark brown racehorse with two spaniels by George Henry Laporte. A small black and white spaniel is depicted play bowing to a mare in a verdant landscape, whilst another spaniel looks on.

George Henry Laporte was an animal artist born in Marylebone, London on 8 November, 1802 to the artist John Peter Laporte (1761-1839) and his wife Martha (née Henderson). His father was a landscape painter and etcher and his sister was the artist Mary Anne Laporte (1788-1865). His father encouraged and tutored and Mary and George in art from an early age.

Laporte specialised in animal paintings particularly sporting and hunting. Some of his paintings featured Arab thoroughbred horses. He made his debut at the Royal Academy in 1821 from an address at 21 Winchester Row where he lived with his parents. In the same year, he also began exhibiting at the British Institution and in 1825 exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists. By 1831 he had earned himself a reputation in the sporting world and attracted the patronage of important figures including Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the youngest son of King George II. He was later appointed animal painter to the King of Hanover.

As well as painting in oil, he also worked in watercolours and exhibited at the New Society of Painters in Water Colours (later the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour), becoming a lifelong member in 1834. By 1840, he was living at 5, Berkeley Place and was advertising in the local directories. He married Eliza Elgie on 21 October, 1850 and the couple lived at 19 Bryanston Street, Paddington where their only child Georgina was born. At some point during the late 1850’s he moved to 13 Norfolk Square near Hyde Park, where he lived for the rest of his life.

As well as paintings, a number of his works were reproduced as engravings and some were published in the New Sporting Magazine. Laporte died at his home at Norfolk Square on Thursday 23 October, 1873. Examples of his work are held by the Dorset Museum, National Trust, Saffron Walden Museum, Tate and Yale Centre for British Art.

© Benton Fine Art