It is surprising to find how few notable Australian horse-owners have a sufficient affection for their animals to desire their portraiture in paint.
I once asked Stainforth to give me some idea of his methods. He replied that he first examines the horse carefully, making small pencil sketches with remarks on characteristic features, and then, with the impressions fresh in his mind, makes a small sketch in colour from 8 to 12 inches in size, giving as far as possible the pose, proportions and colour, without any attempt at fine detail. This study is then compared with the horse, and any alterations that are necessary are made, and further notes are made all round the study. In some cases he makes several sketches, each one getting nearer the perfect representation. The head is the part that requires the greatest care, and many studies of this alone may have to be made before he is satisfied with the results. Having decided the size of the canvas, he next decides on the pose which will best suggest the character of the subject and the direction from which the light will fall to show to best advantage such salient features as the head, shoulders or quarters. An appropriate background has also to be chosen.
When we come to sum up the merits of Martin Stainforth as a painter of horses, the first point which must be conceded in his favour is his power for conveying a faithful delineation of the particular animal that he is dealing with. He possesses a gift for detecting a horse’s chief characteristics and is thus enabled to interpret anything in the animal’s conformation that is vital in helping to make the completed work an accurate portrait, in addition to its being an agreeable work of art. As regards his medium, he is equally at home in either water-colour or oils, but he tells me that oils give him much more scope for his large pictures, while water-colour is more suitable for his small studies. His technique has reached such a pitch that he can paint a horse’s coat with such fine detail and beauty of texture that it resembles the work of a painter of miniatures.
Stainforth’s love for the horse helps him to strike the ideal pose for each particular animal, and this is most happily shown in his studies of the brilliant Woorak, who was noted for his exuberant spirits and playful, contented nature. Perhaps there is nothing more difficult to achieve in painting a horse than the successful suggestion of his muscular body by means of delicate light and shade. The ordinary painter of the horse generally represents exaggerated muscles, but in Stainforth’s horses, though we do not actually see muscles brought into relief, we are nevertheless made aware of their presence under the glossy skin with its vivid sheen.
The reproductions of Stainforth’s pictures included in this volume will serve in a great measure to prove to the public generally his calibre as a painter of the horse. Those of us, however, who have had the pleasure of studying his work in the originals, have every confidence in allowing posterity to judge of his merits. Certain it is, that at no distant date his pictures will be acclaimed and much sought after as classic examples of equine portraiture.
THE SECRET OF STAYING POWER
By Dr. W. J. STEWART McKAY
The ambition of every man that breeds racehorses is to produce a good stayer. That this is a difficult matter is made evident by the large number of horses entered for the Derby and St. Leger and the few that run.
Therefore the question is naturally asked: Why cannot all horses run a distance? The answer is that all horses can run a distance; it’s the time they take that is the important point.
In dealing with the questions relating to “staying,” we must take into consideration distance, time, and weight. We must try and find out the difference between the horses that can sprint six furlongs in 1.12 and the horses that can go two miles in 3.24, and ask how they differ from the horses that can go 80 miles from sunrise to sunset.