Sawrey Gilpin was the younger brother of the Reverend William Gilpin (1724-1804), the famous advocate of picturesque beauty. Sawrey worked for the Duke of Cumberland and later the Prince of Wales, and was living in Cumberland Lodge at the time of the Duke’s death in 1765. The Duke was an enthusiastic horse breeder and regular at Newmarket racecourse, even in the last years of his life. In the early 1760s Stubbs produced his series of compositions depicting mares and foals, creating more complicated and gracefully spaced designs than had been seen previously in horse painting. One of these (National Trust, Ascott, Wing), depicting the Duke of Duke of Cumberland’s stud at Windsor, was exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1765. Gilpin here imitates the poise and harmony of Stubbs’s compositions, especially in the group to the right of centre, whether or not it was painted after this date (the year of the Duke’s death).

When this painting was exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1771 the landscape was attributed to ‘Mr Marlow’ (the topographical painter, William Marlow) and there is no reason to doubt this source. Marlow must have provided the landscape background, with a view of Windsor Castle from the Long Walk.