I am the fortunate possessor of Stainforth’s picture of “Artilleryman” finishing in his memorable Melbourne Cup. The horse is shown going at top speed, quite off the ground, with his legs well under him. The drawing is absolutely correct, and shows that there is at least one phase of the gallop which is graceful and sightly. But his finest interpretation of the moving horse is to be seen in his great picture of the most exciting finish in a classic race ever seen at Randwick. It was a memorable meeting of four champions in the Craven Plate of 1918, when the faithful Cetigne, ridden by Albert Wood, forced his way through a chance opening at the last moment and snatched victory from the brilliant Wolaroi, the hardy Estland, and the consistent Desert Gold. The canvas brings the scene back to all of us who witnessed the event so vividly that we live those few intense seconds over again; we do not see the impossible horses depicted by Herring; we see four horses, lifelike in the fidelity of their pictured action, and each horse an entity in itself. In a fast and close finish the eye cannot distinguish minute details of the struggling horses, and the painter, cognisant of this, does not attempt that detail which he would portray if he were painting a stationary and specially posed horse. His chief object is to convey the impression of rapid movement. That is the essential, and he has achieved this with such consummate art that the picture is a classic among racing paintings. In Australia the horse is a national asset, and in the Craven Plate picture Stainforth has endeavoured to depict for posterity the most outstanding and memorable classic event in the annals of our turf history. By his signal success he has earned the thanks of all lovers of a good horse. Stainforth’s art, however, is not confined to the painting of horses alone. As an exponent of that now almost forgotten art, wood engraving, he has proved himself a master. Both Lord Leighton and Sir John Millais, as Presidents of the Royal Academy, selected some of his work for the Exhibitions at Paris, Berlin and Brussels as the best examples of the English engraver’s art. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy on many occasions and has achieved considerable success as an illustrator for the principal English magazines. But his best work as an engraver is to be found, perhaps, in the illustrations to Grant Allen’s “Evolution of Art.” Much of Stainforth’s present-day skill as a painter of horses is no doubt due to the patience and attention to detail with which he became imbued as an exponent of the engraver’s art.