GA019 | Australian & International Art

17
22
In August of that year, Herbert travelled to Perth expressly to
paint a portrait of a horse named Le Var who had just won the
Coolgardie Cup. There was money at that time on the Western
Australian goldfields. In November 1897 Melbourne Punch
commissioned him to produce a coloured picture of Amberite,
winner of the recent Caulfield Cup.
In relation to the painting under discussion (“The Melbourne
Cup 1900), the following paragraph from Table Talk, 15
September 1899 is of special interest. It describes an
exhibition at the Melbourne Art Club at that time.
I note that the colours of the jockeys’ silks in the ‘1900’
painting are consistent with colours worn in the 1900 race.
The eventual winner Clean Sweep was raced by ‘Mr F.T.
Forrest’ (the nom-de-course of Frank Cummings) whose
colours were white, blue sleeves and cap. The horse
prominently depicted near the lead at this point is wearing
such colours.
The jockey colours for the runner up Maltster (note correct
spelling) (black, red cap) can also be seen in the painting. I’m
not sure that all the colours in the 1900 race are represented
in the painting.
A further significant point is the viewpoint of the painting. This
to my knowledge is the first time an artist has depicted the
Melbourne Cup or races at Flemington from this viewpoint –
a point of originality by the artist. The open-deck ‘Tattersall’s
Stand’ at the turn was opened in 1889 and was in place until
1913.
Interestingly the newspapers in the 1890s increasingly
were publishing photographs of the races, the horses
and the racecourse. The year 1898 was the first time, to
my knowledge, that photographs appeared showing this
viewpoint.
An important detail in the art work is the distinctive figure of
the man in the (left) foreground of the painting. This is certainly
intended to be Frank Cumming, or “Mr F.T. Forrest”, the owner
of Clean Sweep. The artist has copied the photographic
portrait of Cumming that appeared in the weekly Australasian
on 3 November 1900 (p.29). There is a straight comparison
with the bowler hat, moustache, strap holding the binoculars,
the race book and pencil in hand.
This certainly implies that Frank Cumming either
commissioned the work or was the obvious intended
purchaser for the painting. Cumming had recently been
elected to the committee of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club
(Caulfield), was a wealthy broker from a wealthy pastoralist
family, and owned paintings. He died in 1906 at the age of 44.
I have found no press description of the 1900 painting,
suggesting that it was sold rather than exhibited.
(Dr) Andrew Lemon. AM FRHSV Historian
Author: The History of Australian Thoroughbred Racing
(with Harold Freedman et al, artists), Hardie Grant Books 2008,
3 volumes.