Race Horse Jacinth Newmarket and Ascot Champion Oil Painting By Peter Biegel
Peter Biegel – Studies of Jacinth, Champion Filly, 1973
A Commemorative Multi-Study Portrait of Lady Butt’s Celebrated Thoroughbred Signed British Sporting Oil Painting in a Period Gilt Frame with Racing Plaque
Highlights
• Signed original oil painting by Peter Biegel.
• Created and dated during Jacinth’s outstanding 1973 racing season.
• Multiple equine studies united within a lively montage composition.
• Celebrates Lady Butt’s Cheveley Park, Coronation and Falmouth Stakes winner.
• Jacinth achieved a Timeform rating of 133.
• Combines finished head portraits with energetic movement studies.
• Painted upon Winsor & Newton “Herga” prepared canvas.
• Period canvas manufacturer’s stamp preserved verso.
• Presented in a gilt frame described as original to the work.
• Engraved brass plaque records Jacinth’s racing career.
• Supported by private-family, auction and exhibition provenance.
• An important subject for collectors of British racing and equestrian art.
Introduction
Painted in 1973, Peter Biegel’s Studies of Jacinth is a dynamic commemorative portrait of one of the outstanding British-trained fillies of the early 1970s.
Jacinth had dominated her two-year-old campaign, culminating in a decisive victory in the 1972 Cheveley Park Stakes. In 1973 she returned to win the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and Goodwood Mile, in addition to finishing second in both the 1,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes.
Biegel responded to this exceptional racing career through a composition containing several interrelated images of the filly. Carefully observed head studies are placed alongside moving figures and rapidly expressed outlines, allowing the viewer to experience Jacinth as both an individual racehorse and an athlete in motion.
The painting is signed and dated, executed upon Winsor & Newton “Herga” prepared canvas and presented in a period gilt frame with an engraved plaque detailing the horse’s achievements.
Catalogue Details
Artist: Peter Biegel
Artist’s dates: British, 1913–1988
Title: Studies of “Jacinth”
Alternative supplied transcription: Sketches, “Jacinth” 1973
Date: 1973
Medium: Oil on canvas
School: British School
Category: Sporting, racing and equestrian art
Canvas: Winsor & Newton “Herga” prepared canvas
Canvas mark: Manufacturer’s stamp verso
Signature: Signed “Peter Biegel” lower left
Inscription: Jacinth’s name and the date 1973 upper left
Subject: Jacinth, bay filly owned by Lady Butt
Presentation: Period gilt frame, engraved brass racing plaque and protective glass
Framed dimensions: 71 cm wide × 56 cm high × 4.5 cm deep
Catalogue Note
Biegel’s multi-study arrangement allows the composition to move between intimate portraiture and sporting action.
The filly appears in several attitudes. More developed passages concentrate upon the head, eyes and muzzle, capturing alertness and individual character. Elsewhere, abbreviated outlines and galloping poses investigate rhythm, balance and propulsion.
These images are integrated through a restrained palette of golden umber, chestnut, ivory, muted green and blue-grey. The softly worked background provides atmosphere while allowing the individual studies to remain distinct.
Biegel varies his paint handling according to each passage. Fine controlled marks articulate Jacinth’s facial features, while broader and more fluid strokes describe movement and open space.
Light impasto along selected contours catches the surface and strengthens the modelling of the horse’s musculature. The alternation between resolved and abbreviated forms suggests the working process of an artist deeply familiar with equine anatomy.
The composition is more than a conventional likeness. It presents Jacinth through a succession of observations, conveying her appearance, temperament and racing movement within one unified canvas.
The Racehorse Jacinth
Jacinth was foaled in Ireland in 1970. A bay filly by Red God out of Jaffa, she was bred by William Hill, owned by Lady Butt and trained by Bruce Hobbs.
She won five of her seven races and finished second in the remaining two.
As a two-year-old in 1972, Jacinth won the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket and received a Timeform rating of 133. She was regarded as the leading British-trained juvenile of that season.
Her 1973 racing record included:
• Second place in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
• Victory in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
• Victory in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.
• Second place in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
• Victory in the Goodwood Mile.
She subsequently retired from racing to become a broodmare and died in 1992.
Biegel’s painting records Jacinth at the height of her fame and preserves the visual identity of a filly whose brief racing career combined consistency with exceptional ability.
The Artist
Peter Biegel was born in Hertfordshire in 1913 and became one of the recognised British painters of racing, hunting and equestrian life during the post-war period.
He began his formal artistic training at Lucy Kemp-Welch’s School of Animal Painting in Bushey in 1938. Kemp-Welch was celebrated for her depictions of wild, working and military horses and for her illustrations to Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.
Following wartime military service, Biegel undertook further study at Bournemouth School of Art. He subsequently worked with Lionel Edwards, whose influence helped shape his approach to field sports, movement and equine draughtsmanship.
Biegel developed an individual style characterised by accurate observation, freely handled paint and an instinctive understanding of horses in motion. His subjects ranged from commissioned racehorse portraits to hunting scenes, point-to-points and informal anatomical studies.
The Yale Center for British Art holds seven works by Biegel in the Paul Mellon Collection. These include Hound Exercise, Studies at the Start, A Beagle, Facing Left and Mill Reef Wins the Eclipse in Record Time.
Frame
The painting is housed in a moulded gilt frame described as original to its 1973 presentation.
A brass plaque attached to the frame is engraved with Jacinth’s racing record, providing valuable subject identification and historical context.
Protective glass covers the front of the painting. The restrained gold finish complements the warm palette while preserving the character of a mid-20th-century sporting presentation.
Provenance
Acquired directly from a notable racing family in the Winchester area.
Subsequently offered through a notable southern shires auction house; label verso.
Curated and catalogued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
Exhibited in British Sporting Art and the Thoroughbred Tradition, Famous Lord Hill Museum, Shropshire.
The visible signature, dated inscription, named racing plaque and provenance support the present cataloguing. No independent authentication by the Peter Biegel estate or catalogue-raisonné committee is asserted.
Dimensions
Framed width: 71 cm or approximately 28 inches.
Framed height: 56 cm or approximately 22 inches.
Framed depth: 4.5 cm or approximately 1.8 inches.
All measurements are approximate.
Condition Report
The oil painting remains in good overall condition, with a stable canvas and well-preserved colour.
The painted surface displays no obvious active lifting or structural instability. No visible restoration has been identified during ordinary visual inspection, although ultraviolet or scientific examination has not been undertaken.
The Winsor & Newton “Herga” prepared-canvas stamp remains visible on the reverse and is consistent with a painting executed in 1973.
The gilt frame displays light rubbing and minor marks associated with age and previous handling. It remains structurally sound.
The engraved brass plaque and protective glass remain present. The painting is ready to hang and display.
Additional photographs, including images of the signature, inscription, canvas stamp, plaque and verso labels, are available upon request.
Shipping
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The glazed painting will be professionally protected, securely packaged and dispatched fully insured using a suitable fine-art delivery service.
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Attribution and Research
The historical observations, provenance research, attribution analysis and contextual commentary presented within this catalogue entry represent the professional opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®. They are offered in good faith as informed scholarly assessments based upon the available evidence, comparative research, published reference material and our experience within the international fine art market.
These observations should be understood as professional opinions rather than definitive statements of fact or guarantees of authorship, attribution, date, origin, provenance or historical interpretation. As with all historic works of art, future documentary discoveries, technical examination, conservation analysis or advances in academic research may refine, expand or revise current interpretations.
Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution
The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.
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