George Stubbs
Born – Liverpool, England 1724
Died – London, England 1806
George Stubbs was the most celebrated animal painter of his day. However, it would be more accurate to say that he was a painter of nature, as landscape and environmental details were scrutinized with as much attention as the animal subjects that proliferate in his canvases. Largely self-taught, he was renowned for his observational skills, imagination and sensitivity. He had established himself as a portrait painter in Leeds while studying anatomy at York. A visit to Italy in 1754 enabled him to absorb the influence of Renaissance and antique art, which was to inform his own work. He settled in London in 1759 and in addition to experimenting with enamel paint on earthenware, proceeded to produce the “animal history” paintings for which he is best known. Perhaps the most famous of these is Lion Devouring a Horse, reputedly based on a dramatic scene he witnessed while in Italy. It could be, however, that this is an exaggerated account of Stubb’s study of a classical sculpture of the same subject in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome. In spite of the somewhat contrived, artificial proportions and expressions of the creatures, the painting must have been startling to contemporary eyes.
Masterpieces:
- Mares and Foals in a River Landscape
- Portrait of a Young Gentleman Out Shooting
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About george stubbs
The Art of George Stubbs
Venetia Morrison
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George Stubbs, Painter: Catalogue Raisonne (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Judy Egerton
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Stubbs & the Horse
Dr. Malcolm Warner
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