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拍品专文
In the late 1760s, George Stubbs became increasingly preoccupied with refining the art of painting in enamel. The technique was not unknown in England, having arrived there in the late-17th century by way of France--particularly Limoges--where enamellists had perfected the technique during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In Britain, the art form was quickly embraced, and in 1696 King William III established the office of Enamel Painter to His Majesty, a position that during Stubbs’s lifetime was most famously held by Henry Bone. Stubbs’s experimentation in this medium may have been driven by a desire to create works of art with immutable, brilliant colors that would not be subject to the troubling deterioration that affected the oil paintings of several of his contemporaries, most notably Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Executed on a convex sheet of copper, The Lion and Stag is one of George Stubbs’s earliest enamel paintings, datable to about 1768-9, and is one of only seven surviving works by the artist in this medium (J. Egerton, loc. cit.). The subject of a deadly encounter between these two noble animals was well-established, with roots in Classical Antiquity. Stubbs had already treated it in oil on two earlier occasions. The first, datable to circa 1765, is the monumental Lion Attacking a Stag painted for the Marquess of Rockingham (fig. 1; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven). The second is the more traditionally-sized canvas that Stubbs exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1769, where it was described as A Lyon Devouring a Stag (ibid., no. 176). The Sendak Stubbs essentially reproduces the central part of his 1769 canvas. Whereas the 1769 canvas situates the scene within a dense landscape beneath an animated cloudy sky, here the artist was bound by the limited scale of his copper support. He accordingly condensed the scene to its primary action, eliminating the sky and bringing forward the rocky outcropping so that it appears that the dramatic encounter takes place before a cave. Stubbs rarely repeated his compositions without making any changes: here, he repositioned the stag’s body, foreshortening it to adapt to the copper’s circular format. Such limitations of scale and form would eventually drive Stubbs to use ceramic supports for his enamels, which he created in partnership with Josiah Wedgwood (1730 – 1795).
George Townley Stubbs, who is thought to be the painter’s son, engraved a mezzotint, in reverse, of the present enamel. The print was exhibited anonymously in the 1770 Society of Artists, presumably as an unlettered proof, as Judy Egerton posits (ibid., p. 300). It was published a few months later on 24 July 1770, with some minor alterations to the plate and with the added inscription: 'The Lion and Stag. / Done from the Painting in Enamel by Mr Stubbs' (fig. 2). Since the mezzotint print was already exhibited in the 1770 exhibition, which opened 24 April, it follows that Stubbs’s enamel must have been created some time before then, particularly as the creation of a print is a lengthy, time-consuming process. Accordingly, Egerton suggests that the Sendak Stubbs stands as one of the artist’s earliest paintings in enamel on copper. At this initial stage, the artist was still working out his process, as evidenced by the cracks that developed during the final firing of the work. Such cracks often formed when the furnace was too hot, or the work was inserted into the furnace ‘from cold’. As Egerton notes, `treatises on enamelling advised that the work should first stand “on the doors” of the furnace before being inserted in it, at the heat of "a good culinary fire'"of 250o-450o' (ibid.).
Though today, the cracks may be appreciated as compelling reflections of Stubbs’s ingenuity, their presence likely contributed to the artist’s decision not to make his debut in this new technique with this painting. Instead, his first publicly exhibited enamel was his Lion devouring a Horse, which was shown at the Society of Artists in 1771 (ibid., no. 112). The 1st Lord Melbourne purchased that enamel for 100 guineas, a substantial price and the highest sum Stubbs would achieve for one of his works in this medium. On the whole, however, Stubbs’s enamels did not enjoy as much commercial success as his traditional works, perhaps because the collectors of his day associated works in enamel more with portrait miniatures, decorations of jewelry, precious objects, and small-scale reproductions of famous works of art. Accordingly, most of Stubbs’s paintings in this material remained in his personal collection, and were ultimately offered in his posthumous studio sale, 26-27 May 1807.
When the painting was rediscovered in 1996, it brought the number of known works by Stubbs in this medium up to eight. In addition to the work exhibited at the Society of Artists, these include Horse Affrighted at the Lion’s Approach, dated 1770 (private collection, USA), the octagonal Lion and Lioness, dated 1770 (Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art), an octagonal Tiger and Tigress (untraced), and A Pointer, dated 1772 (private collection). The two other works on copper do not depict animal subjects: Mother and Child, 1772 (Tate Gallery) and Hope Nursing Love, dated 1774 (Victoria and Albert Museum), both of which were likely commissions.
Executed on a convex sheet of copper, The Lion and Stag is one of George Stubbs’s earliest enamel paintings, datable to about 1768-9, and is one of only seven surviving works by the artist in this medium (J. Egerton, loc. cit.). The subject of a deadly encounter between these two noble animals was well-established, with roots in Classical Antiquity. Stubbs had already treated it in oil on two earlier occasions. The first, datable to circa 1765, is the monumental Lion Attacking a Stag painted for the Marquess of Rockingham (fig. 1; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven). The second is the more traditionally-sized canvas that Stubbs exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1769, where it was described as A Lyon Devouring a Stag (ibid., no. 176). The Sendak Stubbs essentially reproduces the central part of his 1769 canvas. Whereas the 1769 canvas situates the scene within a dense landscape beneath an animated cloudy sky, here the artist was bound by the limited scale of his copper support. He accordingly condensed the scene to its primary action, eliminating the sky and bringing forward the rocky outcropping so that it appears that the dramatic encounter takes place before a cave. Stubbs rarely repeated his compositions without making any changes: here, he repositioned the stag’s body, foreshortening it to adapt to the copper’s circular format. Such limitations of scale and form would eventually drive Stubbs to use ceramic supports for his enamels, which he created in partnership with Josiah Wedgwood (1730 – 1795).
George Townley Stubbs, who is thought to be the painter’s son, engraved a mezzotint, in reverse, of the present enamel. The print was exhibited anonymously in the 1770 Society of Artists, presumably as an unlettered proof, as Judy Egerton posits (ibid., p. 300). It was published a few months later on 24 July 1770, with some minor alterations to the plate and with the added inscription: 'The Lion and Stag. / Done from the Painting in Enamel by Mr Stubbs' (fig. 2). Since the mezzotint print was already exhibited in the 1770 exhibition, which opened 24 April, it follows that Stubbs’s enamel must have been created some time before then, particularly as the creation of a print is a lengthy, time-consuming process. Accordingly, Egerton suggests that the Sendak Stubbs stands as one of the artist’s earliest paintings in enamel on copper. At this initial stage, the artist was still working out his process, as evidenced by the cracks that developed during the final firing of the work. Such cracks often formed when the furnace was too hot, or the work was inserted into the furnace ‘from cold’. As Egerton notes, `treatises on enamelling advised that the work should first stand “on the doors” of the furnace before being inserted in it, at the heat of "a good culinary fire'"of 250o-450o' (ibid.).
Though today, the cracks may be appreciated as compelling reflections of Stubbs’s ingenuity, their presence likely contributed to the artist’s decision not to make his debut in this new technique with this painting. Instead, his first publicly exhibited enamel was his Lion devouring a Horse, which was shown at the Society of Artists in 1771 (ibid., no. 112). The 1st Lord Melbourne purchased that enamel for 100 guineas, a substantial price and the highest sum Stubbs would achieve for one of his works in this medium. On the whole, however, Stubbs’s enamels did not enjoy as much commercial success as his traditional works, perhaps because the collectors of his day associated works in enamel more with portrait miniatures, decorations of jewelry, precious objects, and small-scale reproductions of famous works of art. Accordingly, most of Stubbs’s paintings in this material remained in his personal collection, and were ultimately offered in his posthumous studio sale, 26-27 May 1807.
When the painting was rediscovered in 1996, it brought the number of known works by Stubbs in this medium up to eight. In addition to the work exhibited at the Society of Artists, these include Horse Affrighted at the Lion’s Approach, dated 1770 (private collection, USA), the octagonal Lion and Lioness, dated 1770 (Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art), an octagonal Tiger and Tigress (untraced), and A Pointer, dated 1772 (private collection). The two other works on copper do not depict animal subjects: Mother and Child, 1772 (Tate Gallery) and Hope Nursing Love, dated 1774 (Victoria and Albert Museum), both of which were likely commissions.