George Stubbs Painter

George Stubbs is one of the greatest of British eighteenth-century painters, with a deep and unaffected sympathy for country life and the English countryside. This fully illustrated book outlines his career, followed by a catalogue raisonne (the first since Sir Walter Gilbey's short listing of 1898) of all his known works. One of the stickiest labels in the history of British art attached itself to Stubbs as 'Mr Stubbs the horse painter'. Over half of his paintings were of horses, each founded on the pioneering observations assembled (in 1766) in his book The Anatomy of the Horse; but Stubbs's wide-ranging subjects included portraits, conversation pieces and paintings of exotic animals from the Zebra to the Rhinoceros, as well as an extraordinarily sympathetic series of portraits of dogs.

This masterpiece of animal anatomy contains 36 plates that reproduce Stubbs' etchings. Based on the artist's own dissections and outline views, the illustrations feature extensive explanatory text. Full reproduction of 1766 edition.

Primarily known as a horse painter, some rendered life-size up to 7' x 12, 'George Stubbs' work represents a social history of eighteenth century England. Most of his paintings were done on commission, including a number from the Prince of Wales. While paintings in the animal and hunting genre might be easily overlooked as merely decorative, Stubbs distinguished himself in this area with the use of stunning realism. Also included are his famous equine anatomical illustrations and engravings. The faithfully represented images in the book, with a text that illuminates Stubbs' life and times (1724-1806), allow for a true appreciation of the work and will help to round out any art book collection.

George Stubbs was one of the most original artists Britain ever produced. His extraordinary dedication to accuracy impelled him to spend 18 solitary months dissecting and drawing horses to make his landmark study, The Anatomy of the Horse. His portraits of people and animals combine an unflinchingly accurate gaze with profound psychological truth, yet he also created some of the most lyrical paintings of the age. Ozias Humphry, a colleague of Stubbs, recorded his many conversations with the painter, and the resulting manuscript became the basis for this present book.

Far more than a fine horse portraitist, George Stubbs was a painter and a printmaker of the highest importance, on a par with his great contemporaries, Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough. An artist-scientist who emulated Leonardo da Vinci, Stubbs tirelessly explored the natural world, and new ways of representing it. Born the son of a Liverpool tradesman, Stubbs was self-taught and at first struggled in obscurity as a northern provincial painter. Robin Blake's book uncovers Stubbs's origins and some of the secrets of his youth: sympathy with the Jacobite rebels and Catholicism; and a previously undocumented wife and family in York. A 'niece', Mary, became his mistress and lifelong companion, working alongside him as he dissected the carcasses of horses. In 1776 he published these investigations as The Anatomy of the Horse, which was his breakthrough, leading to commissions from the most powerful men in Georgian Britain. By tracing the network of patronage and friendship through which George Stubbs operated, Robin Blake reveals the remarkable succession of animals, people and ideas which inspired him. Stubbs emerges as a man of huge energy and complex sensibility whose artistry was informed by science, politics, literature, classical art and - above all - nature itself.

George Stubbs was marvelous English animal painter and anatomical draftsman, famous for his paintings of horses. Stubbs also painted a wide range of other animals, including the lion, tiger, giraffe, monkey, and rhinoceros, which he was able to observe in private menageries. According to the Ozias Humphrey, Stubbs was so convinced of the importance of observation that he visited Italy in 1754 only to reinforce his belief that nature is superior to art. Among Stubbs's best-known pictures are several depicting a horse being frightened or attacked by a lion (Horse Frightened by a Lion, 1770). His historical paintings are among the least successful of his works; much more convincing are his scenes of familiar country activities done in the 1770s. Unfortunately, he tended to execute his paintings in thin oil paint, and relatively few survive in undamaged condition. Stubbs's last years were spent on a final work of anatomical analysis, for which he completed 100 drawings and 18 engravings.