Samuel Theobald

Samuel Theobald, Jr. was the son of the physician and ophthalmologist Samuel Theobald, Sr (1846-1930). The family was one of the best known and most remarkable medical families in the US. Early in his career he studied with André Jean Castaigne (1861-1929), the French painter and popular illustrator. Theobald was mainly painting seascapes, dock scenes, landscapes, still lifes, animals and horse scenes, and portraits.

Samuel Jr. lived mostly in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. During the winter, he often visited the quarters of the Barnum & Bailey Circus in Florida and painted animals and performers. On Fire Island in New York, he found motifs for seascapes and harbor scenes.

His 1932 entry was titled Brookmeade Stables - Brice. Brookmeade was a successful horse racing and breeding stable owned by Dodge automobile heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane (1896-1962). It existed 1924-62. Brookmeade horses won each of the three races of the American Triple Crown series. “Brice” was a horse that won the Bushwick Obstacle Race for this stable in 1928. Theobald’s work was previously exhibited at the National Academy of Design’s annual show.