Biographical Information

George Stubbs
1724-1806 British

George Stubbs was the greatest of British horse painters, a master whose work stands alone, and who has had a greater influence on sporting painting throughout the world than any other artist.

Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier. At fifteen he was apprenticed to Hamlet Winstanley but did not remain long. He sought to make a living as a portrait painter in the north of England. By the age of twenty-six he was working in York, where as well as painting, he studied anatomy and gave private anatomy lessons to medical students. By 1958 he had moved, with his common-law wife Mary Spencer to Lincolnshire, where his son George Townley Stubbs was born. It was here that he began one of the most important phases of his life and indeed the work that has influenced equestrian artists ever since (many modern artists refer to it as their main source of study). He made an incredible study of the horse’s anatomy by obtaining dead horses which he slung in his studio and dissected, layer by layer, making drawings of all the stages, showing all aspects, the muscles, the sinews, and the skeleton. This fantastic work was finally published in 1766 and was simply called The Anatomy of the Horse for which he engraved all the plates himself.

In 1759 Stubbs moved to London where he soon became established as a painter. His ability to portray both the horse and people, to compose a painting and to pant a landscape, all with such outstanding depth and strength, won him many important patrons including Lords Rockingham, Grosvenor, Richmond, Bolingbroke, Grafton and Portland. He was at his peak in the 1760’s and many of his most famous paintings date from this period including the life-size portrait of “Whistle-Jacket”, “The Grosvenor Hunt 1763” and many of his mare and foal paintings. It was also during this period he painted the first of many pictures on a theme that was to fascinate him for years, that of a lion attaching a horse. Towards the end of the 1760’s he began to experiment with enamels. His work with enamels also influenced his work with oils and he began to use more and more glazes mixed with paints to give stronger and greater effects.

In the 1780’s Stubbs painted his famous farming scenes and seemed to turn further away from the establishment. He also returned to engraving, producing original creations rather than reproductions. In the 1790’s Stubbs was commissioned by the Turf Review to paint a series of portraits of famous racehorses. The series was not completed, only sixteen portraits were completed. It is interesting to note that despite his extensive anatomical studies even he could not understand the movement of the horse’s canter and his horse s are depicted in a rocking-horse gait. Regardless, George Stubbs was an artist far ahead of his time.

Special thanks to Sally Mitchell