George Stubbs is one of the most famous horse painters in art history. Stubbs is the authority on animal paintings, working as a sporting painter and depicting National competition winners. He published a book teaching the details and specifics of horse anatomy. While there is a hint of Neo-Classicism in his obsession with anatomy, his work has a fluidity that associates him with Romanticist art. The artist's association with subject matters that were considered less important resulted in his work being overlooked in the close posterity. Still, today he is hailed as significant as names like Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. A substantial part of his oeuvre belongs to the Royal Collection.
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George Stubbs
George Stubbs is one of the most famous horse painters in art history. Stubbs is the authority on animal paintings, working as a sporting painter and depicting National competition winners. He published a book teaching the details and specifics of horse anatomy. While there is a hint of Neo-Classicism in his obsession with anatomy, his work has a fluidity that associates him with Romanticist art. The artist's association with subject matters that were considered less important resulted in his work being overlooked in the close posterity. Still, today he is hailed as significant as names like Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. A substantial part of his oeuvre belongs to the Royal Collection.
The Stubbs
George Stubbs was born in Liverpool, in the northwest county of Lancashire, England, in August 1724. Mary and John Stubbs were his parents, and his father was a specialist in processing leather. John was a currier, so he applied color to leather that was already tanned. This trade was passed on to George, and the young soon-to-be artist had his first contact with color in his father's workshop.
The small amount of information about the painter's life until his mid-thirties is based on Ozias Humphry's informal notes, gathered from conversations he had with his friend. Around the early age of fifteen, Stubbs knew he wished to work as an artist. John wasn't as fiercely opposed to it as many people were at the time, but he was worried about his son's financial future.
After some time, John agreed to help his son follow his choice in career and encouraged him to find a good master. Unfortunately, Stubbs' father passed away. On a positive note, Mary Stubbs was left with a substantial estate, which enabled her to have a comfortable life. John also left his blessing for his son to follow his path as an artist.
Nature's Apprentice
Enthusiastic about delving into the art world, Stubbs studied under Hamlet Winstanley for a brief period, an artist from Lancashire who had regional fame in Liverpool. Although he had access to study the masterpieces held in Knowsley Hall, he came in conflict with his mentor and decided to follow his path as a self-taught artist.
According to Stubbs, who prided himself on telling this, Winstanley didn't allow him to make copies of specific works, leaving them for himself. The student got fed up and told the older painter to make every copy by himself from here on out. Stubbs decided to dedicate himself and learn exclusively from nature. While it's doubtful that the situation played out in such a dramatic way, it served to build the mythos and motivation behind Stubbs' career.
Leaving Liverpool
The next years in George Stubbs' life were marked by extensive travels around different British cities. At first, he stayed around seven months in Wigan, in which there's little information about other than the contact with a so-called "Captain Blackmore", a father figure for the young artist. After that, he went to Leeds, where he dedicated himself to oil on canvas portraits. Later in his life, the painter experimented with enamel paint, but his medium of choice was mainly oil on canvas.
His childhood fascination with anatomy led him to study the subject more profoundly. He moved North to York in 1744, and a year later, he officially began working as a portrait painter. With the help of Dr. Charles Atkinson, he was able to study human anatomy at the County Hospital. Dr. Atkinson provided bodies in which the artist could desiccate, and soon enough, Stubbs was giving anatomical classes at the hospital.
Trip to Italy
He spent around two years in the city of York. Then he went to Hull, where he continued working with dissections and creating beautiful portraits. Feeling the need to expand his horizons in 1754, Stubbs took a trip to Italy. Curiously enough, there are no surviving sketches based on Old Master's works or statues, while there are many landscape sketches. Apparently, the painter kept faithful to his conviction of not copying from models. Years later, he stated that after this trip, he became convinced that nature will always be superior to art.
When the artist returned from Rome, he made acquaintance with a man whose family was from Ceuta, a small Spanish island opposite Gibraltar. The descriptions of the fellow traveler of the region's wildlife were enough to persuade the Englishman to join him. One night, his friend took him to a high observation point, and together they saw a lion in the distance while tracking a horse. Eventually, the lion caught up to it and ferociously jumped on its back. This motif can be seen represented in quite a substantial amount of his paintings. A Lion Attacking a Horse, c. 1762, Lion Devouring a Horse 1763, and A Lion Attacking A Horse, c1765 are a few examples of artworks inspired by the incident.
Visiting Lincolnshire
Inspired by this trip, the painter returned to Liverpool, where he had to stay for several months. His mother had passed away, and he had bureaucratic matters to deal with, which withheld him in the city. Nonetheless, he shortly made professional contact with an art dealer in the British capital, who advised him to move so he could make more money. He finally left Liverpool in 1756.
His first stop was at Lincolnshire, where he was commissioned by Lady Nelthorpe. While making this visit, he painted Sir John Nelthorpe, 6th Baronet out Shooting with his Dogs in Barton Field, Lincolnshire, and Sir John Nelthorpe, 6th Baronet as a Boy.
Mastering Equine Anatomy
The artist was deeply passionate about animal anatomy, especially horses. He spent about 18 months in a rented farmhouse in the village of Horkstow, dissecting and studying horses in 1756. The illustrations produced during this period are now owned by the Royal Academy. During this time, he was assisted by his partner, Mary Spencer. Ten years later, while living in London, Stubbs published the fruits of his labor; The Anatomy of the Horse. Until this day, he is an essential reference for horse paintings.
Stubbs' work was praised by influential aristocrats who were his patrons even before publishing his book, like the 3rd Duke of Richmond. Throughout the years, the artist was fortunate to have his excellence in painting recognized by many other dukes, lords, and members of the nobility. For anyone interested in purchasing oil paintings that depicted animals, he was the go-to artist.
With his success, he was able to purchase a home in Marylebone, London. Stubbs' son, born in 1756, George Townley Stubbs, also became an artist, specializing in printmaking. One of Stubbs' most famous artwork is entitled Whistlejacket and emphasizes the artist's domain of animal anatomy, representing a racehorse in motion. This piece can be seen at the National Gallery in London.
His The Anatomy of the Horse is an in-depth guide to horse anatomy and structure, containing studies of other animals and comparisons with the human skeleton as well. Concerning animal art, few can match his preciseness.
Death
The British artist had a large task at hand during the end of his life, which he began in 1795. He was producing a series of engravings comparing the anatomy of various species, like the human body, the tiger, and the fowl. Unfortunately, Stubbs passed away on July 1806, before concluding the series. He was 81 when he died.
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