Chesnut Racehorse with Jockey up on Newmarket Heath 18th Century 

Byam Shaw’s Chestnut Racehorse with Jockey up on Newmarket Heath, painted in the 18th century, uses traditional oil paints to depict a scene of wealth and leisure. Consider the nature of oil paint itself: pigments ground with incredible care, in a binder of linseed or walnut oil. The application of these paints in thin layers, or glazes, gives the painting a remarkable luminosity. But, also, it’s important to remember that this painting is about labor, too. Not just the work that went into the canvas, but also the hard work that goes into breeding and training a racehorse, not to mention the jockey's physical work, which is here abstracted. It also hints at the labor, the exploitation, that afforded the leisure of horse racing. We can admire the artist’s hand, but let’s not forget all the hands behind the scenes, and the system that puts them to work. This is why attention to materials, and modes of production, is key to understanding the full meaning of any work of art.