Mares
and Foals in a River Landscape
(oil on canvas, 1763-68))
Tate
Gallery, London
Animals
in Art
George
Stubbs is the greatest painter of horses in the history
of art but he was not always regarded as a great artist.
In his own day he was considered to be a mere horse painter,
a second class subject in the eyes of the art establishment.
Equestrian art, which was included within the genre of
'sporting art', was looked down upon by the critics and
connoisseurs, probably due to its rural patronage. As
it was the hunting, shooting and racing gentry who were
Stubbs' greatest patrons, he tended to be overlooked as
a serious artist. However, time strips away all prejudice
about an artist's achievements and in the 20th century
his reputation was firmly re-assessed to establish him
as as one of the greatest masters of the 18th century.
His subjects may reflect the romantic idealism of their
age but they are lifted above the sentimental by their
skilful composition and intense observation which generate
the gravitas that marks all great art.
In
the 1760's Stubbs painted a series of about ten pictures
of Mares and Foals that were set against traditional views
of the English countryside. 'Mares and Foals in a River
Landscape' is one of the best of the series. The
mares greet one another in a dignified silence while the
foals feed from their mothers. These noble creatures are
completely at ease in their tranquil landscape.
The
horses are very carefully incorporated into the landscape.
Stubbs uses a subtle counter-change of tones to integrate
the different colours of horses with the background: he
contrasts the light profile of the white horse against
a dark cloud in order to counterbalance the dark profiles
of chestnut mares against the sky. This tonal exchange
is mirrored in the layout of the landscape where the bright
billowing clouds are echoed by the dark forms of the tree.
Even the foals seem to draw milk from their mothers in
much the same way that the land draws sustenance from
the river. This is an idyllic vision of a Utopian world
uncorrupted by the presence of man.
Mares
and Foals without a background
(oil on canvas, 1762))
The
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Stubbs
was known to paint his horses first and their backgrounds
later. It was the horses that demanded Stubbs' attention
and any background, although brilliantly executed with
superb skill, was a conventional context of secondary
importance. Therefore, it should not be surprising that
many consider 'Mares and Foals without a background' from
1762 to be the best painting in the series. This may be
an unfinished work or it could have been a study for the
development of other paintings, as you can see a similar
configuration of horses in 'Mares and Foals in a River
Landscape'. Either way it is still a masterpiece. The
composition is arranged in a frieze-like design which
unfolds with classical composure. The lack of a background
only serves to focus our attention on the magnificent
physique of each of these graceful creatures as they quietly
commune with one another. The rhythmic movement of their
backs and legs is a melodic reflection of their gentle
temperament transfused with their latent energy. It is
the balance between the intense realism of Stubbs painting
and the abstract movements of line, shape and tone across
the composition that makes this image so appealing to
modern eyes.
Whistlejacket
(oil on canvas, 1762))
National
Gallery, London
Stubbs'
most famous painting of a horse is Whistlejacket. This
champion racehorse was owned by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
who commissioned Stubbs to paint many of the horses in
his stables. The scale (around 10 feet high)
and pose is typical of an equestrian portrait without
the rider. It was suggested at the time that the rider
should have been George 111 but there is no evidence to
confirm this. The quality of this painting lifts it out
of the equestrian genre and elevates it to the status
of portraiture. This wonderful horse has a more dynamic
personality and glows with more vitality than most portraits
you could think of.
View
our lesson on Drawing A Horse which is based on 'Whistlejacket'
The
Anatomy of The Horse
Skeleton
of a Horse (from The Anatomy of A Horse)
(engraving, 1766)
Stubbs'
superb skill and accuracy in the painting of horses was
enhanced by his unsurpassed knowledge of equine anatomy.
Born
the son of a Liverpool currier, as a child Stubbs helped
his father to prepare horse hides for the local tannery.
In 1756 he moved with Mary Spencer, his lifelong partner
and assistant, to a remote farmhouse in Lincolnshire to
begin work on 'The Anatomy of The Horse'. This was a book
of engravings that illustrated the horse in layers from
its skin down to its skeleton. With a ready supply of
cadavers from a nearby tannery, he suspended horses on
hooks from the roof, positioning the animals in the poses
he required. He then carefully 'peeled' the creatures,
removing their layers of skin, then muscles until only
their skeletons remained. At each stage he meticulously
recorded his dissections from a range of different angles.
It took Stubbs eighteen months to finish his drawings
and notes but, on completion he could not find a publisher.
With typical determination he took on the task of engraving
the illustrations himself, and after eight years work
'The Anatomy of The Horse' was finally published in 1766
- and it is still in print today.
George
Stubbs Notes
