Our Greyhound Art of the Week is Coomassie, oil on canvas, 1877, by Harry Hall (1812 - 1888). Coomassie won the Waterloo Cup twice in a row, in 1877 and 1878, and at 44 lbs. is the lightest Greyhound ever to win the holy grail of coursing. When she won the Cup the second time, she was just out of season. She was never beaten in 26 courses. There was uncertainty surrounding her pedigree, and it is said that that uncertainty was one of the reasons for the establishment of the Greyhound Stud Book of England in 1882. (Charlie Blanning, please feel free to weigh in about that). Harry Hall, one of the leading sporting artists of the late nineteenth century, is recorded as having been commissioned to paint Coomassie by William, the 12th Duke of Hamilton. Hamilton was a profligate gambler on horses and Greyhounds, and it is believed that he won a substantial sum by backing the unfancied, outsider Coomassie in the 1877 Waterloo Cup.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 05:54:49 +0000
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