The Waterloo Coursing Meeting, by Richard Ansdell,
Oil on canvas, 1840, collection of Liverpool Museum
Ansdell’s painting represents the meeting held at Altcar, near Liverpool, in March 1840. It was the premier hare coursing event of the season and ended with the Waterloo Cup. The land was owned by the Earls of Sefton, and the third Earl and his countess are among the notables portrayed on the righthand side. Altogether seventy three portraits are included “all good likenesses” as a contemporary reviewer observed. In the left foreground the two greyhounds Earwig and Emperor, who contested the cup, are held on a lead. Although the work gave Ansdell little scope for imagination it introduced him to many local patrons and was a springboard for his success as an animal painter.
Unfortunately, the glass on the painting is so reflective it was impossible to photograph it face on.
Interestingly, the Waterloo Cup" painting was commissioned as the prize for the Picture Meeting eventually held at Altcar in December 1842. Prior to the meeting, the painting was exhibited in Manchester ( the Mechanics Institute), Chester and Liverpool. Greyhounds travelled from as far as Newmarket and Scotland to compete for the painting. For my sins, I have been researching the humans and greyhounds potrayed in this painting for too long!