The Trimmed Cock
by MARSHALL, Benjamin, Oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm
The present painting of a black-breasted red cock has long been considered the finest surviving portrait of a fighting cock in British art. It was painted as a companion to a portrait of a fully-fledged bird painted for Daniel Lambert (1770-1809), the famous prodigiously corpulent man who was a boon companion of the artist. The painting of the Trimmed Cock appears in the portrait of Lambert painted by Marshall which was itself exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1807.
This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1812 with its companion piece A Game Cock.