George Stubbs

George Stubbs is celebrated for his mastery of animal portraits, particularly horses, which established him as one of the most significant artists of his time. Born in Liverpool in 1724, Stubbs would have grown up around animals through his father’s trade as a currier and leather seller. He also began drawing from an early age, teaching himself to work in oil, and by the early 1740s was painting professionally, his principal subject-matter being portraits.

In 1745 Stubbs moved to York. The artist initially trained himself in anatomy, studying human and animal forms with an almost scientific rigor. This passion for anatomy became a defining feature of his work, especially in his detailed representations of animals. Stubbs would continue to base in Yorkshire, painting, studying and teaching anatomy, drawing and perspective, until 1753. After a brief trip to Rome and settling back in Liverpool for a couple years, Stubbs moved to London between 1758 and early 1759.

The years between 1756 and 1758, when Stubbs was working at Horkstow, a hamlet near Hull in North Lincolnshire, on his Anatomy of the Horse project, are often seen as the crucible period from which he emerged a genius. Published in 1766, this groundbreaking work featured detailed anatomical drawings based on dissections Stubbs conducted himself. His careful study of the horse’s musculature and skeletal structure allowed him to render animals with unprecedented realism. Anatomy of the Horse became an essential reference not just for artists but also for veterinarians and anatomists of the time.

Stubbs is best known for his horse paintings, which captured the grace, power and elegance of the animals. Works such as Whistlejacket (1762), today housed in the National Gallery in London, and his Mares and Foals paintings exemplify his ability to portray horses with lifelike precision while imbuing them with a sense of grandeur. These pictures render the truth to the animal’s majesty and energy.

George Stubbs’ anatomical precision, combined with his keen artistic vision, made his work unique. In his day, Stubbs’ pictures commanded prices on a par with those of other leading artists, yet money and commercial success do not appear to have been his guiding lights, and his output was not particularly large. Today, his works belong in the collections of the Tate Britain in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and other major institutions worldwide.

George Stubbs died in 1806, aged 81.