"Valentine's Brook"

by Cecil Aldin

Paper Size: 26 x 16 ins 65 x 40 cm
Image Size: 22 x 11 ins 56 x 29 cm

Gouttelette Print

This is one of a set of four views Cecil Aldin painted of the Grand National, which were published by Richard Wyman in 1920. The others in the series are The First Open Ditch, Bechers Brook and The Canal Turn. The Grand National in 1920 was a particularly exciting race, in which only five horses finished. The winner was Troytown at 6 to 1, ridden by Mr Jack Anthony and trained by Algy Anthony. Valentines Brook is the ninth and twenty-fifth fence jumped during the Grand National. It is similar in style to Bechers Brook, but less severe. The fence is a 5ft obstacle with a brook and a drop on the landing side, and has become a time for a general re-grouping of the field as the jockeys take stock of which of their rivals are still intact. Later in his career, Aldin often sketched from a coach, which he had swapped with a friend, Godfrey Heseltine, in return for a life-size portrait of a heavyweight basset. Thereafter, the Aldins often used the coach as a grandstand at race meetings like the Grand National or Derby, enabling the artist to watch and sketch in peace, high above the crowds

Watermark does not appear on actual print