Chalon was born in London of Dutch parentage; he specialized in animal painting, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1847. He worked for several members of the royal family: George IV; his sister-in-law, the Duchess of York; his daughter, Princess Charlotte, and others.

This is one of a group of four horse portraits (OM 697-700, 407206-8 and 400528), painted and framed in 1808, which were received at Carlton House in 1813, remained there in store and after the King’s succession were sent to his more rustic residences: in 1822 they went to the King’s Lodge (now Royal Lodge) and then to Cumberland Lodge, both in Windsor Great Park.

Barbarossa stands in a fenced paddock with a thatched brick shed in the left middle ground; in the background, on the right, is a village, possibly Newmarket, with two churches.