Milton Menasco (American, 1890-1974), Almahmoud

Oil on canvas, signed at lower left, presented in a carved frame with gallery plate at lower center "Almahmoud / 1947-1971 / 'Mahmoud-Arbitrator / With Colt by Native Dancer."

Stretcher size 22 x 28 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 29 x 34 3/4 in.

From the Estate of the late Peggy Augustus, Old Keswick, Virginia

Milton Menasco was an American artist who began his career designing posters and working as an art director in early Hollywood films before becoming one of the country’s leading equine painters. After moving to Kentucky in 1948, he focused on racehorses and stud farm scenes, creating portraits for prominent patrons such as John Hay Whitney, Isabel Dodge Sloane, Ronald Reagan, and Allaire du Pont. His most famous work, La Troienne and Her Foals (1953), was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of Racing.

Almahmoud (1947–1971) was a chestnut American Thoroughbred mare who had a lasting legacy as a broodmare. Bred by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney and later owned by William G. Helis Sr., she won four of eleven starts, including the Colleen Stakes and Vineland Handicap, before retiring to stud. As a broodmare, she produced several exceptional daughters, most notably Cosmah, the dam of Halo (sire of Sunday Silence), and Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer.

Minor craquelure, otherwise good estate condition.