Lord and Lady in a Phaeton

Driving, not riding

A driven vehicle rearranges the social geometry of a horse picture. Riding puts one person above the animal. Driving puts two or more people behind it, seated, at the same height as each other. The title names a lord and a lady in a phaeton, and the record files the work under group portraiture as well as Animal Art > Horse. The claim being made is about a household rather than about a single figure.

What the record holds

The date of creation is 1787 and the location is the National Gallery in London, one of 8 records here that name that collection. The dimensions are 82.5 x 101.6 cm. The record gives Romanticism as the style term, British as the nationality, and brown as the measured colour family of the image. A rural landscape heading accompanies the animal tag.

Where the driving records sit

21 titles in this catalogue name a cart, a carriage, a coach, an omnibus, a trap, a wagon, a team or a phaeton. Against 25 that name a race and 11 that use the word equestrian, the driven horse is a category the collection carries in quantity but rarely announces in the title. This entry announces it.