Gentle Kitty, a thoroughly British thoroughbred, was bred by John Hutton, sired in 1774 by Silvio out of Dorimond mare, both from the grandest of blood lines of the Darley Arabian via the Godolphin Arabian and Godolphin Whitefoot.

Melilcoma was an East Prussian racehorse, sired in 1792 by Archer out of Pallas.

These fine equestrian portraits were engraved by Johann Meno Haas (1752-1833), who was born in Germany but was raised and initially trained in Copenhagen. He moved to Paris in 1782, where he trained under Nicolas de Launay, before returning to Berlin in 1786. He was much in demand as a highly accomplished engraver. This pair seems to be from an extremely scarce series of famous racehorses, with only one other example found in this fine contemporary gouache.

Copper-plate engravings after Wolf, with fine original hand-colouring in gouache. Trimmed and mounted onto a laid paper support with manuscript titles in the style of the original, fine condition with colours remaining clean and bright. Very slight loss of gouache in small area of 'Gentle Kitty'. 41 x 35.5 cm.
Framed and glazed, overall size: 63cm by 50cm by 4cm.