A fine sporting painting of a bay horse in a stable by Benjamin Cam Norton. The stallion, most likely a hunter, is depicted standing in a stall with a metal hay feeder in the corner. Although the name of the horse has been sadly lost over time, his owner would have probably commissioned Norton to paint the portrait as a memento of his sporting successes.

Benjamin Cam Norton was a sporting artist who was born on 7 April, 1834 at Guildford in Surrey. His parents were John and Katharine Rebecca Norton (née Norden) and he lived with his family in Guildford High Street. His father was a hairdresser, perfumier and print seller from Sheffield who moved to Guildford during the early 1840’s where he ran a successful business and was also Honorary Secretary to the London Art Union. Although little is known about Norton’s early education, at the age of around 16, he became a pupil of Jerome Goodrich (act.1829-1859). On Goodrich’s recommendation, he entered the Royal Academy School on 26 December, 1852 where he later won a silver medal.

By the time of his marriage to Eliza Nowill at Sheffield on 17 December 1860, he had become a full time artist and was specialising in sporting animal paintings and portraits. The couple initially lived in Sheffield, from where Norton exhibited at the British Institution in 1862. Soon after, they moved to Guildford to live with his parents before moving to Stroud, Gloucestershire, where they had their first child in 1864. During this period, he began attending races at Cheltenham, Doncaster, Liverpool and Newmarket and began painting racehorses on the course. By 1866, he had moved to Cheltenham living at 7 Bath Place, off the Bath Road, most likely to be closer to his patrons.

He began exhibiting in Cheltenham at the Fine Art Society exhibitions from 1867 until 1882 and won praise for both his sporting works and portraits of local gentry. After spending almost 20 years in Cheltenham, Norton made his final move to Newmarket in Cambridgeshire around 1883. He lived at Cotswold Villa on Stanley road and also set up a studio in Upper Station Road. He spent his time painting commissions for race horse owners including Claude Lefèvre, Joseph Davis and the Earl of Stamford. He died in Newmarket on 1 January, 1900.

Examples of his paintings can be found at the Rotherham Museum and the Regimental Museum.

© Benton Fine Art