The Clifton Racecourse

Rolinda Sharples's The Clifton Racecourse of 1836 is an unusual and accomplished work in the tradition of English sporting and social scene painting, depicting the fashionable Bristol race meeting on Durdham Down with the kind of comprehensive documentary ambition more often associated with male painters of the genre. Sharples was a Bristol-based painter who had developed a specialty in large crowd scenes documenting the social life of Bristol's professional and gentry classes — her most famous earlier work showing the Clarkson stanfield and the Bristol stage. The racecourse painting places dozens of recognizable local figures within the animated spectacle of race day, combining the sporting picture with a group portrait of provincial upper-class society. The Bristol City Museum holds the picture as a key document of Sharples's distinctive contribution to English genre painting.

Sharples organizes a challenging multi-figure outdoor scene across a broad canvas, managing the crowd through careful tonal groupings and the rhythm of figures against the open sky. Individual portrait likenesses are embedded within the larger scene without disrupting its sense of crowded occasion. The handling is accomplished and clear, with a bright outdoor light typical of her work.