A wonderful sporting painting of a grey horse standing in a landscape next to a groom by Clifton Tomson. An unbridled grey hunter is depicted standing near a wooded area with his head facing towards the right. In front of the horse, a man is shown holding out a large pan of food in an effort to entice the horse further forward. A halter rope can be seen held in the groom’s right hand, waiting to be placed over the horses head when the moment presents itself. Although the name of the horse has been sadly lost over time, the portrait would have undoubtedly commissioned by the owner to commemorate the horse in some way. A photograph of this painting and a brief description appears in the Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists by Sally Mitchell, published in 1985, on page 428.

Clifton Tomson was born in Nottingham in 1775, the son of William and Mary Tomson. Little is known about his early life but he is recorded as becoming an apprentice Framework Knitter to John Rothwell of Nottingham in 1790 at the age of 15. However, it became apparent that his talents lay in another direction and his master allowed him to take art lessons from Mr Bonington, a drawing master and father of the artist Richard Parkes Bonington. Under Bonington’s tutelage, Tomson developed his artistic skills and decided to pursue a career as an artist when his apprenticeship came to an end.

At some point he began to specialise in paintings of animals, particularly sporting horses. Horseracing had become hugely popular in the area, with racing regularly taking place at Nottingham and the Doncaster Cup and St Leger Stakes at nearby Doncaster from the late 1770’s. Having established himself as an artist, he married Grace Brailsford on 22 January, 1797 at St Peter’s Church, Nottingham. Together the couple lived at Pepper Alley in Nottingham where they started a family. His son William (b1808) also became an artist. The family later moved to Park Street where Tomson set up a studio.

From his base, he would spend his time travelling around the country visiting the races to sketch horses and made his living earning commissions from wealthy owners and breeders. In 1801, he gained a commission from Earl Fitz William to paint the racehorse ‘Orville’ which earned him further patronage from members of the aristocracy. This work and others were made into engravings and published in the Sporting Magazine. He also painted portraits of dogs; two of which were for Lord Byron.

Tomson died at Nottingham on 6 September, 1828 aged 54. After his death, his local paper wrote of him: “In the portraits of his horses he was held in high estimation, and in several instances his works have been preferred to Herring’s. In his manners he was mild and inoffensive, and his character was upright and honest”. Examples of his paintings are held by Burghley House, Harris Museum, National Trust, Newstead Abbey, Nottingham City Museum, Stevenage Museum and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

© Benton Fine Art