(Vienna 1813-1852) "Excellenz Graf Clam auf dem Picco", signed, dated and marked F. Rauch (1)843, Prague, oil on canvas, 56 x 70 cm, framed, (Rei)

This painting shows Eduard Graf Clam-Gallas (Prague 1805 - Vienna 1891) on his horse Picco, possiibly with his English stable master William Stone and some of his famous harriers. Count Clam-Gallas, later general of cavalry, was a great promoter of horse sports in Austria and Bohemia. During his time as commandant of the 8th k.k. Kürrassierregiment in Podiebrod he founded his pack of harriers. When in 1841 the Pardubitz par force hunt was founded by Franz Prince von Liechtenstein, Count Clam-Gallas together with Vinzenz Prince von Auersperg put his pack at its disposal. An 1844 painting, also by F. Rauch, is known which depicts the Prince and Princess Liechtenstein out riding. This indicates that Rauch, as local “court painter“, used the Pardubitz hunt and riding scene as subjects.

Count Clam probably met William Stone (Sussex 1814 - Vienna) 1882), the son of a gardener, at a par force hunt in south England at the end of the 1830s. Stone impressed the Count with his good riding skills, and was brought by him to Bohemia, probably around 1840 to be his English stable master. It is attested that Stone’s third son was born in Prague in 1844. As part of his activity as stable master he visited the Count’s various properties. He was buried in 1882 at the Engelsdorf cemetery on the property of the Count.

Literature: Franz Thurn and Taxis: Pardubitz: Parforce Jagd u. Rennen, Vienna-Cologne 1990 Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL). vol. 1. Verlag der Austrian Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 148.

Provenance: Counts of Clam-Callas (extinct)

The Counts of Clam-Gallas were a line of the Austrian noble family Perger-Clam who in 1757 took the name of the already extinct Italian noble family ‘Gallas’ as well as their – predominantly Bohemian –properties.

The properties included inter alia the castles of Friedland and Grafenstein in Bohemia, as well as the architecturally significant Palais of Prague and Vienna. The Clam-Gallas line died out in 1930.