LIONEL DALHOUSIE ROBERTSON EDWARDS (British, 1878-1966). THE 'PAPYRUS' DERBY, signed and dated 1923 lower right. Watercolor and gouache - Framed, sight: 11 1/4 in. x 15 3/4 in. Estimate $20,000-25,000
After attending W. Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting from 1897-1903, Lionel Edwards enjoyed a successful career as a painter of hunting and sporting scenes. Gaining special recognition for his dramatic portrayals of thoroughbred racing, he emerged as one of the subject's foremost specialists in early twentieth-century London. Relocating with his wife to rural Buckholt, near Salisbury, following WWI, Edwards remained a devoted chronicler of the sport.
The present lot, a masterful re-creation of the 1923 Epsom Derby, features the Irish stallion, "Papyrus", emerging victorious before a crowd of nattily-attired spectators. The second leg of England's Triple Crown, and the country's most prestigious race, the Epsom has been documented by artists ranging from Theodore Géricault to Samuel Henry Alken. Here, in a compositional arrangement that dramatizes the race's final seconds, Edwards captures the pomp and pageantry of thoroughbred racing.
Hinged (on verso) along top edge; watercolor and gouache painted on board; label on verso reads "No. 1619...to be returned to A. E. Johnson, Artists' Agent, 32, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.R."
