John Frederick Herring, Sr.

John Frederick Herring Sr. (12 September 1795 – 23 September 1865), also known as John Frederick Herring I, was a painter, sign maker and coachman in Victorian England. He painted the 1848 "Pharoah's Chariot Horses" (archaic spelling "Pharoah"). He amended his signature "SR" (senior) in 1836, with the growing fame of his teenage son (1 of 4) John Frederick Herring Jr.

Life and work

Herring, born in London in 1795, was the son of a London merchant of Dutch parentage, who had been born overseas in the United States. The first eighteen years of Herring's life were spent in London, where his greatest interests were drawing and horses. The image, which depicts three horse heads, was adapted from Victorian-era prints into tattoo flash by the 1920s. Tattoo artists such as Gus Wagner, Percy Waters, and George Fosdick popularized the design. The name references the biblical story of Exodus 15.