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拍品專文
Dated 1792, this painting of a dun hunter dramatically silhouetted against stormy skies, dates from Stubbs’ maturity. With over thirty years of experience to draw upon, Stubbs continued to innovate and command important commissions in his sixties, not least from the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, consolidating his reputation as Britain’s leading sporting artist. This painting has never before been offered for sale at auction and has been in the same private collection for over eighty years.
Located on the banks of the Humber in North Lincolnshire, looking from South Ferriby to North Ferriby, this scene is situated very close to where Stubbs had undertaken his intense study of equine anatomy in the mid-1750s through gruelling anatomical dissections in a farmhouse at Horkstow. The results of this research, which were published in The Anatomy of the Horse in 1766, had enabled him to paint living horses with a level of accuracy that was completely unprecedented and greatly enhanced his career. Stubbs remained preoccupied with experimental studies and knowledge based on empirical evidence throughout his life, yet this pursuit was always combined with a deep empathy for his subjects, as exemplified in this painting: the dun’s meticulously rendered anatomy and signature yellow coat are set off against a dark, brooding sky, enhancing the horse’s presence and stature.
The inscription on the frame, perhaps dating to when the painting was on the market in the early 1940s, which reads ‘from the collection at Gumby Hall, Barton-on-Humber’, is likely to be a misreading of ‘Gautby’, about ten miles east of Lincoln, where the Vyner family had an estate in the eighteenth century. Judy Egerton, in her catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works, proposed that this painting may have been commissioned by either Robert Vyner, M.P. (1717-1799) who sat in the House of Commons from 1754-1796, successively for Okehampton, Lincoln and Thirsk; or his son, Robert (1753-1804), for whom Stubbs painted Foxhound and Bitch, also in 1792 (op. cit.). Egerton further pointed out that the inclusion of merchant shipping may reflect the patron’s interests, since the inclusion of such a contemporary detail was otherwise quite unusual within Stubbs’ oeuvre.
Located on the banks of the Humber in North Lincolnshire, looking from South Ferriby to North Ferriby, this scene is situated very close to where Stubbs had undertaken his intense study of equine anatomy in the mid-1750s through gruelling anatomical dissections in a farmhouse at Horkstow. The results of this research, which were published in The Anatomy of the Horse in 1766, had enabled him to paint living horses with a level of accuracy that was completely unprecedented and greatly enhanced his career. Stubbs remained preoccupied with experimental studies and knowledge based on empirical evidence throughout his life, yet this pursuit was always combined with a deep empathy for his subjects, as exemplified in this painting: the dun’s meticulously rendered anatomy and signature yellow coat are set off against a dark, brooding sky, enhancing the horse’s presence and stature.
The inscription on the frame, perhaps dating to when the painting was on the market in the early 1940s, which reads ‘from the collection at Gumby Hall, Barton-on-Humber’, is likely to be a misreading of ‘Gautby’, about ten miles east of Lincoln, where the Vyner family had an estate in the eighteenth century. Judy Egerton, in her catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works, proposed that this painting may have been commissioned by either Robert Vyner, M.P. (1717-1799) who sat in the House of Commons from 1754-1796, successively for Okehampton, Lincoln and Thirsk; or his son, Robert (1753-1804), for whom Stubbs painted Foxhound and Bitch, also in 1792 (op. cit.). Egerton further pointed out that the inclusion of merchant shipping may reflect the patron’s interests, since the inclusion of such a contemporary detail was otherwise quite unusual within Stubbs’ oeuvre.