John Sturgess was a hunting and racing artist and lithographer who worked mainly for the Illustrated London News

Illustrated London News

The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...

 between 1875 and 1885, and also exhibited widely in the London galleries, in particular at the Royal Society of British Artists

Royal Society of British Artists

The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...

 and also at the Royal Hibernian Society in Dublin. He was known for being an accomplished illustrator of books and magazines, but is probably best remembered for his portrait of Blair Athol, the winner of the Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

in 1864.