It’s not often that Shakespeare is heard in the ornate lobby of the Leela Palace Chennai. Lines from his Henry V — “When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes” — are spoken in a sibilant whisper by Chennai-based sporting and animal artist Sabrina Siga. Her works, spanning four decades, hang at the National Maritime Museum, Mumbai, regimental messes and palaces, have featured in the US magazine Polo Player’s Edition, the calendar of the Bombay Natural History Society and been auctioned by Christie’s and Bonhams, headquartered in London. Siga has also painted a series on endangered animals for the Maharaja of Nawanagar and captured the Maharana of Udaipur’s polo ponies at play in Cambridge. And now, the works, especially those that until recently adorned the walls of Cox, an art gallery in London, are on sale at the Leela. To get to the exhibition, hosted by Apparao Galleries, seems quite an adventure as there are no indicators announcing it. But once you find it in the lower level of the hotel, you are transported to a world of blue skies, gnarled oaks, stables, crowds at the races, green turf, flying mallets and the perfect marriage of man and beast. The 25 frames on display barely contain the steed and its rider. Then, there are horse heads and foals in oil, polo players and jockeys in watercolour and sketches of majestic manes, gentle eyes and foaming mouths. Siga, who was drawn to art as a child, graduated in Fine Arts from Stella Maris College. Sporting art took precedence when she married a naval officer and international polo player Commander John J Siga. It gave her the chance to sketch some of India’s finest horses in action, and her works became a regular feature at the Polo Ball then held at the President’s Estate in Delhi. She learnt to ride, a skill that taught her to empathise as well as observe horses keenly. It helped Siga draw attention to the dynamics of the footwork, the lay of the saddle and capture the spirit of the animal with accuracy. She established her Snaffles Fine Art Gallery in the 1980s, naming the venture after a bit mouthpiece for the horse. “I quickly sketch the horse when on field, then fill in the colours,” says Siga, who uses Winsor and Newton watercolours and Camlin oils and is pawrtial to raw sienna, Prussian blue and cadmium yellow. “My works are rooted in Realism and I prefer the English style of watercolour art. You leave out the white of the paper and fill in the colours. Sporting art calls for technical perfection in both landscape and portraiture. I work at capturing the enigma of an animal that has carried history on its back for many centuries now.” (The exhibition is on till July 29 at Leela Palace Chennai, MRC Nagar. 9962333142)

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