The Spanish Pointer (1768)

George Stubbs prints bring the elegance of English racehorses, hunters and hounds into your home. Stubbs was an eighteenth-century English painter, largely self-taught, whose deep study of anatomy made him one of the greatest animal painters in Europe. Our collection of fine art prints includes his racehorses at Newmarket, dogs and hunting scenes, lions and exotic animals, farm labourers and reapers, and his remarkable anatomical drawings of humans, tigers and fowl.

About George Stubbs

George Stubbs was born in Liverpool on 25 August 1724, the son of a leather-dresser, and worked in his father's trade until he was about sixteen. A short, unhappy apprenticeship with the Lancashire painter Hamlet Winstanley ended within weeks, and from then on he taught himself. Fascinated by anatomy since childhood, he moved to York, where from 1745 he worked as a portrait painter and studied human anatomy at York County Hospital. His drawings illustrated John Burton's book on midwifery, published in 1751.

In 1754 he visited Italy, and on his return he rented a farmhouse at Horkstow in Lincolnshire, where he spent eighteen months dissecting horses with the help of his partner, Mary Spencer. Around 1759 he moved to London, and in 1766 he published The Anatomy of the Horse, engraving the plates himself. His accuracy impressed the aristocracy at once: the Duke of Richmond commissioned three large pictures in 1759, and by 1763 Stubbs could buy a house in Marylebone, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Stubbs painted racehorses with their grooms and jockeys, hunting packs, dogs and exotic animals from private menageries, including a kangaroo that was the first many Britons had seen. He experimented with painting on enamel, using panels made for him by Josiah Wedgwood, and in the 1790s he enjoyed the patronage of the Prince of Wales. His last project, a comparative anatomy of the human body, a tiger and a common fowl, was unfinished when he died in London on 10 July 1806.

Style and Subjects

Stubbs's horses are true portraits. Every muscle and vein sits exactly where it should, because he knew the animal from the skeleton outwards. He often set them against plain or open backgrounds, and painted the grooms and stable-lads beside them as real individuals, not as props.

His work also has a wilder, Romantic side. He returned again and again to the theme of a lion attacking a horse, painted lions, leopards, a zebra and a monkey, and made calm pastoral scenes of haymakers and reapers. The collection includes his famous anatomical drawings too: human figures, tigers and fowl, layer by layer, both scientific and strangely beautiful.

Famous Works

• Whistlejacket (c. 1762), National Gallery, London. The Marquess of Rockingham's racehorse rising on its hind legs against a plain background.
• A Lion Attacking a Horse (1762), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. One of a series on this theme that are early landmarks of the Romantic movement.
• Hound Coursing a Stag (c. 1762), Philadelphia Museum of Art. A hound in full chase, from his early years in London.
• Newmarket Heath, with a Rubbing-down House (c. 1765), Yale Center for British Art. A racehorse on the heath at Newmarket, beside a rubbing-down house.
• The Anatomy of the Horse (1766), Royal Academy of Arts (original drawings). His great book on equine anatomy, with plates he engraved himself.
• Reapers (1785), Tate, London. Farm workers at harvest, from his pastoral series of haymakers and reapers.
• The Prince of Wales's Phaeton (1793), Royal Collection. Painted during his years of patronage from the Prince of Wales.

Decorating with Stubbs Prints

Stubbs's horse paintings are a classic choice for a study, library or country-style living room. A print like Eclipse at Newmarket with a groom and jockey or Newmarket Heath, with a Rubbing-down House suits dark wood, leather and green or deep-red walls, and makes a fine gift for anyone who rides or follows racing.

Dog lovers can choose from his spaniels, pointers and foxhounds, such as White Poodle in a Punt, for a hallway or mudroom. The anatomical drawings look striking in a modern room, a home office or a doctor's or vet's practice, and the gentle Reapers works well in a kitchen or dining room.

FAQ

What is George Stubbs known for?

Stubbs is best known for his paintings of horses, which are admired for their exact knowledge of anatomy. He also painted dogs, wild animals, hunts, portraits and country scenes, and published The Anatomy of the Horse in 1766.

What is George Stubbs's most famous painting?

Whistlejacket (c. 1762), a picture of a racehorse rising on its hind legs, now in the National Gallery in London, is his most famous work.

Was George Stubbs self-taught?

Yes. After a few weeks with the painter Hamlet Winstanley he trained himself, and he learned anatomy by studying at York County Hospital and by dissecting horses himself in Lincolnshire.

Where can I see George Stubbs's paintings?

The National Gallery and Tate in London, the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Royal Collection all hold important works.

Related Artists

• John Wootton: earlier English horse painter whose work Stubbs's accuracy surpassed
• James Seymour: horse painter of the generation before Stubbs
• Peter Tillemans: Flemish-born painter of English racing and hunting scenes before Stubbs
• Joshua Reynolds: great eighteenth-century contemporary; Stubbs developed his skills independently of him