John Frederick Herring

The Frugal Meal

exhibited 1847

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Not on display
Artist
John Frederick Herring 1795–1865
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 546 x 749 mm
frame: 810 x 1150 x 130 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
Reference
N00452

Display caption

Herring was a self-taught artist who is perhaps best known as a painter of race-horses. Between 1815 and 1849 he portrayed many of the winners of the classic races of the time. However, in the latter part of his career, his subject-matter changed - perhaps under the influence of Sir Edwin Landseer (1803-1874) - from conventional equestrian portraits to sentimental depictions of domestic animals in farmyards or stables. These later works, such as 'The Frugal Meal', are amongst his most original and sensitive pictures. Herring adopted the format of closely grouped horses' heads for several compositions in the 1840s. The horses were often shown drinking or eating at a manger, accompanied by birds or other small creatures.

Gallery label, August 2004

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John Frederick Herring, ‘The Hunting Stud’ 1845

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1845
John Frederick Herring, ‘Mazeppa Pursued by Wolves (after Horace Vernet)’ 1833

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John Frederick Herring, ‘Mazeppa Surrounded by Horses (after Horace Vernet)’ c.1833

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c.1833
John Frederick Herring, ‘Birmingham with Patrick Conolly Up, and his Owner, John Beardsworth’ 1830

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1830
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
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1833–4, exhibited 1834
John Frederick Herring, ‘Manuella, at Richard Watt’s Stud Farm, Bishop Burton, Yorkshire’ 1825

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1825
Charles Cooper Henderson, ‘Sportsmen in Scottish Dress Driving to the Moors’ c.1845

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c.1845
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John Linnell, ‘Landscape(‘The Windmill’)’ 1844–5, exhibited 1845

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1844–5, exhibited 1845
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, ‘A Dialogue at Waterloo’ exhibited 1850

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exhibited 1850
Thomas Woodward, ‘Horses Surprised by Wolves’ 1842

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1842
John Linnell, ‘Harvest Home, Sunset: The Last Load’ 1853

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1853
Richard Dadd, ‘The Flight out of Egypt’ 1849–50

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1849–50
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ‘The Girlhood of Mary Virgin’ 1848–9

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