Stevan Dohanos (1907-1994)

The present work was published as the main illustration for a short story by Beryl Markham published in The Saturday Evening Post on September 2, 1944. Entitled “The Splendid Outcast,” the story takes place in Suffolk, England and centers on a vagabond stallion named Rigel with a notorious reputation for his violent behavior. At auction, Rigel becomes a spectacle for the audience, the majority of whom do not dare bid on the untamed animal. The present scene, captioned "A groom clings like a monkey to the tightened chain. He is swept from his feet while his partner, a less tenacious man, sprawls ignobly below," depicts the moment in which two grooms struggle to restrain the rebellious horse as the captivated audience looks on.