John Willis-Good (British, 1845 – 1879)
‘After The Race’.
A Silvered Bronze Equestrian Group Cast By Elkington & Co, Birmingham.
Depicting a racehorse with jockey up, at the dynamic conclusion of a race, standing on a grassy naturalistic base and raised on a granite painted slate base.
Signed to the cast ‘J.Willis Good 1875’ and stamped ‘Elkington & Co’ to the edge of the base.
England, Circa 1875.
Capturing a moment of intensity at the end of a race, the jockey and his horse are shown in a dynamic pose that conveys both physical strain and emotional connection. With striking anatomical precision, especially in the horse’s musculature and stance, Willis-Good suspends a fleeting moment of motion, highlighting the bond between rider and horse and the enduring nobility of sport.
Fascinated by the contrasting emotional and physical narratives, Willis-Good revisited the subject of before and after the race in several models, often conceived as pendant works. A related group, also titled ‘After the Race’, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873 (Exhib. No. 1500). It depicts an exhausted racehorse with its head lowered, the jockey standing with hands on hips, as the groom leads them toward the winner’s enclosure. This model is illustrated by Jane Horswell in Les Animaliers (Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk, 1971, p. 287), where she describes it as “a fine composition, excellent subject matter.”
John Willis-Good (1845–1879) was a talented English sculptor whose brief but prolific career positioned him as the leading British figure in the Animalier tradition, a genre otherwise dominated by French artists. The astonishing skill, and naturalism displayed in his works, and their comparative rarity, make them highly sought after by collectors of animalier works today.
Jane Horswell in ‘Les Animaliers’, (Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk, 1971
Christopher Payne, ‘Animals in Bronze’, Antique Collectors Club, 1986.
By appointment only.
