Portrait of Alexander, the Circus Horse

American school, unsigned, ca. 1840
Oil on canvas
30″ 39″
Over-all in fine condition, scattered restoration visible under UV light, lined, on a re-faced stretcher.
This portrait of a spotted circus horse was likely derived from a Currier and Ives print titled: A Correct Likeness of Mr. H. Rockwell’s Horse, Alexander, Bowery Amphitheatre, NY, March 1840. .
The American Stallion Register notes that Alexander was spotted black and white, 15 3/4 hands, 1,200 pounds and foaled around 1822. Owned by Page’s Circus who purchased him in the west and sold him around 1831 for $1,000 to a company in Middlebury, Vermont.