James SEYMOUR (1702-1752, English)

James SEYMOUR (1702-1752, English)

A Groom and Three Horses in a Stable

oil on canvas

in carved and gilded 18th-century frame

37 x 61 inches

Price: Sold

The early sporting artist James Seymour was born in London, the son of James Seymour Sr, a wealthy banker, goldsmith, diamond merchant and amateur artist who supplied the plate for racing trophies. Seymour’s father was also an amateur artist and a member of the Virtuosi Club of St. Luke, to which the leading sporting artists John Wootton and Peter Tillemans belonged. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that Seymour should have chosen the career of an artist. 

Although Seymour had no formal training, he began to draw at early age and Vertue mentions that ‘from his infancy’ he ‘had a genius to drawings of Horses’. He also studied pictures and prints in his father's collection and copied old masters. Encouraged by his father, he received an entree into the London art world with introductions to the leading artists of the day. Seymour worked largely at Newmarket and attracted many patrons as well as developing a strong interest of his own in racing and may have owned his own horses. 

Seymour represents one of the first true sporting artists in Britain, he had no other subject matter, unlike John Wootton and George Stubbs. Seymour’s obituary referred to him as ‘particularly eminent in horse-painting’ (Gentleman's Magazine, vol.22, London 1752, p. 336). His drawings of horses’ heads after Tempesta and Van Dyck are in British Museum.