275 - James Walsham Baldock,

James Walsham Baldock, British 1822-1898- Portrait of Comus, Winner of the Golfers Handicap Musselburgh, Clydesdale Plate, Lanark; oil on canvas, signed, dated, and inscribed 'J. Baldock / 1868 / Worksop / NOTTS' (lower right), 33 x 43.5 cm. Provenance: with Pawsey & Payne Fine Art Dealers, London. Note: Baldock was known principally for sporting subjects, particularly horses, shooting scenes and sporting dogs, as well as Highland and pastoral scenes. He received commissions from prominent English and Irish patrons, including the Garnett family of Arch Hall, Pollock of Mountainstown, Pratt of Cabra Castle, the 6th Viscount Galway and the 5th Duke of Portland. He was a founding member and later President of the Sheffield Society of Artists. The present work is typical of Baldock’s sporting oeuvre, depicting a well-bred horse in a stable interior. Comparable examples sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 28 April 2016, lot 3 (£2,500), and at Dreweatts on 12 June 2024, lot 246 (£850 hammer).