Robert Nightingale (1815-1895)
Horses in a field before an extensive landscape
Signed and dated 1876? (partially obscured by slip), oil on canvas, 63.5cm by 107cm

Provenance: Frost & Reed Limited
Bonhams, Anonymous Sale, Knightsbridge, June 21 2000, lot 69

Lined, one key missing, good tension if a little stiff. A little pressed from the lining process. One dent with associated cracking and minor loss of paint and ground in the trees mid left edge. Finescale brittle age craquelure throughout, not elevated and all secure. A few scattered minor losses of paint and ground, restored, including one larger 2cm loss in the sky.

There has been widespread abrasion in the sky and areas of the grass (particularly to the left of the horses), which has been suppressed but at least one campaign of fairly extensive but careful and not discoloured overpaint, applied in long brushstrokes (see ultraviolet images). The painting has been partially cleaned in the past, with an old varnish left on over the horses, in the fence at the right and in passages of the foreground. Attempts have been made to partially remove this in the small dark pony (now visible as slightly milky circles). There are only scattered, relatively minor retouchings to the horses to losses and marks.

The upper varnish layer is good and even. Light surface dirt and a couple of tiny scuffs and scratches.