JOCKEY SIZED ARTIST CAPTURED AUSTRALIAN RACEHORSE SCENE

 A visit to a North Queensland cattle station in l908  greatly  influenced  the   future career of  an artist , renowned overseas for religious work , who became  acclaimed  as  the  greatest  painter of   Australia  racehorses  and was  also  highly  regarded in   American  racing circles.

He was  Martin Frank  Stainforth  (1866-1957), born in Worcestershire ,England, one of  11 children  of  Reverend  Frederick Stainforth  and  his wife , Ann, nee Shepherd . 

Madonnas galore

Having been taught  wood engraving by  the German  artist  and draughtsman ,Baron Moritz Klinkicht , Martin lived in London , mostly turning out  Madonnas  based on old Italian masters,  at the Royal Academy of  Arts , selected  for  exhibitions  in  Paris , Berlin and Brussels . 

He switch to freelance magazine and book illustration when wood engraving was superseded.

In the early 20th century, he visited a cousin's cattle station in North Queensland and  sketched animals.   Deciding to stay in Australia , he more  or  less took over from another English  artist, Douglas Fry , an illustrator  and animal painter, mainly of  horses, who came to Sydney  in  1899  and died in 1911.  

A  racecourse dandy 

Stainforth set up a studio in Sydney,  immersed himself in the  racing scene , mixing with jockeys, horses and owners. The Dictionary of Australian Biography says he  deliberately  set out  to upset the  tradition of  racehorse portraiture in  which  horses had " ridiculously  small " heads, tapered legs and  tiny feet.

He went to Melbourne for the spring  carnival and  painted  many Melbourne Cup winners in their full , impressive glory . Small, a dapper dresser , with a  bowtie , an impressive  moustache, he  sported  a  Stetson. He  often included himself  in racecourse crowd  scenes  he painted , according to the Dictionary of Biography.

King George and Carbine 

He became known as  probably the  finest painter of racehorses in Australia, In 1922 he provided illustrations for Racehorses in Australia . Off to New Zealand he went  and then  back to England in l930, where he was commissioned  to  paint Limelight  for King  George V . There he  also painted the famous New Zealand bred Carbine , winner of 30 major Australasian  races , from  photographs .

On going to America in 1934 , he frequented racetracks and was commissioned to  paint  top horses.  Living in a New York Hotel , he visited  studs in  Kentucky.  Examples of  his extensive   equine artwork  are  held in the Australian Jockey Club and the National Museum of Racing, Saratoga Springs , New York .

Another side of his  work is the following romantic  watercolour entitled The Shepherd's surprise , of  a young maiden lost in the  woods , currently offered  by  Douglas  Stewart  Fine  Books  , Melbourne , for  $1100.