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Above: Sir Alfred Munnings PRA, The Start, October Meeting, Newmarket, 1957The sport of kingsNewmarket has been the centre of horseracing for nearly 400 years – now a new museum complex will examine its legacy. NADFAS-accredited Lecturer Chris Garibaldi provides an overviewIn 1666, Charles II returned to Newmarket for the fi rst time since he was a boy. The palace built by his grandfather James I to pursue his love of hunting and hawking was in ruins, but over the next few years Charles II built a new palace for his own passion – racing. His enthusiasm infused the life and soul of the town, and many subsequent monarchs followed in his footsteps, making their own marks on Newmarket. Today, racing is as important as ever, with the town still the headquarters of racing in the UK.To refl ect this, and to help visitors understand its legacy, in November HM the Queen opened the new National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art. Situated in the remaining elements of Charles II’s sporting palace and stables, it spans fi ve acres in the heart of Newmarket and comprises not only the National Horseracing Museum and Rothschild Yard, but also the Fred Packard Museum and Galleries of British Sporting Art – a new home for the British Sporting Art Trust – and a purpose-built education centre, supplied by the generosity of the Alborada Trust, where children and adults can learn in an immersive environment.The Fred Packard Museum and Galleries are situated in the former Palace House. Here, images of traditional rural pursuits combine with some more surprising aspects of the subject, such as contemporary artwork. Sporting images were introduced by British aristocrats after the Restoration of Charles II, when a small number of Dutch and Flemish artists travelled to England. At that time, these European animal and landscape painters shaped the development of sporting art. The exchange of sporting paintings, illustrated books and even decorative sporting weapons across Europe further infl uenced the development of early sporting art in Britain. By the end of the 17th century, a small number of native artists were beginning to work on sporting subjects. While the Continental tradition remained infl uential, a uniquely British school of sporting art was beginning to emerge. By the 18th century there was a huge growth in the popularity of rural sporting activities in Britain which led to the development of a thriving native school of sporting art. Continental artistic infl uences from the previous century were gradually replaced by uniquely British characteristics. Rather than small decorative features within a landscape, sporting subjects began to take centre stage. From racehorse portraits to sporting conversation pieces, new types of sporting compositions emerged. Rather than an idealised classical landscape, sporting activities began to be set 34 NADFAS REVIEW / SPRING 2017 www.nadfas.org.ukHORSERACING