James J. McAuliffe (1848–1921) Colonel Lawrence Kip (1836-1899) and Pair of Blue Ribbon Trotters

Signed and dated, "J. Mcauliffe, 1899," oil on canvas, framed.

(19 5/8 in. x 29 1/2 in. (sight))

Provenance

From a Virginia collection.

Note

Colonel Lawrence Kip, a socially prominent New Yorker, was best known as a horseman. He served as president of the Coney Island Jockey Club, Suburban Riding and Driving Club and Vice-President of the National Horse Show Association. According to William Henry Goucher, Trotalong (1928), "Colonel Lawrence Kip[p] whose road rigs set the fashion for appointments and style not only at the National Horse Show, but all over the country." Kip also had an illustrious military career from 1857-1867 as a Second Lieutenant Third Artillery and published a book about his experiences in the North West Indian wars, Army Life on the Pacific (1859). During the Civil War, Kip served on the staffs of Generals Edwin Vose Sumner, John E. Wool, Robert O. Tyler and Philip Sheridan. He saw action in the Battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Mine Run, Battle of Rappahanock Station, Battles of Trevilian Station, Cedar Creek, Battles of Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, High Bridge, Sailor's Creek, Appomattox Station and Court House. He received a number of commendations for gallant and meritorious service during the war and on April 1, 1865, was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel.

28 in. x 38 in. (frame); lined; bright overall, with some areas of retouching revealed under UV light, particularly confined to perimeter (especially lower edge), but also some areas to lower center edge, upper center edge, minor areas to horse body, and to mid-section of whip; frame is period, and with minor losses to gesso / gilding commensurate with age