LONDON, ENGLAND.- It is almost twenty years since the last major exhibition of Stubbs's work and this is the first to focus exclusively on the object of his true passion, the horse. The starting point for this exhibition is Whistlejacket, painted by Stubbs in 1762, one of the most popular paintings in the National Gallery. Its heroic scale and the compellingly life-like depiction, make it one of Stubbs's greatest works and confirms his reputation as the greatest painter of horses in the history of art. Fundamental to Stubbs's unrivalled understanding of horses and their physiognomy are the anatomical drawings and prints that he painstakingly made in 1756-8 and these studies are featured extensively in the exhibition. They were the first anatomical studies of horses to be published since the 16th century, and were drawn directly from the dissections that Stubbs personally performed in a farmhouse in Horkstow.
In 1758 at the age of 34, Stubbs moved to London hoping that these anatomical studies would help him secure commissions. Up until this time he had scratched a living in the north of England as a portrait painter and an anatomist. Despite his precocious and rapidly developing scientific expertise, and remarkable facility for portraiture, he had remained dependent on a few loyal, but provincial patrons. The move to London gave his career a new momentum, there he met the owner of Whistlejacket, the rich and powerful 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, who would play a key role in Stubbs's success in London society. Stubbs went on to attract many other wealthy and influential patrons, including Viscount Bolingbroke , the Duke of Ancaster, Lord Grosvenor, and Viscount Torrington. Later in his career he enjoyed Royal patronage through the Prince of Wales, who commissioned 14 paintings illustrating his sporting interests. Two of these paintings are featured in the exhibition including the portrait of Lady Lade, the notorious wife of his racing manager.
The 18th century was the golden age of British racing as new, faster thoroughbred horses were introduced and the stakes became higher for owners and gamblers alike. Stubbs's racehorse portraits and stud-farm scenes, commissioned or bought from him by wealthy owner-breeders, paid homage to the British racing world. Equine portraits such as that of Gimcrack were an expression of pride in ownership and a celebration of racing success. Gimcrack was one of the most popular and admired of all 18th-century horses who, despite being unusually small, won an amazing 28 out of his 36 races. Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey (1765) commemorates his racing successes as it both shows him crossing the finish line and then later being rubbed down, and attended to by the trainer and jockey.
The exhibition includes fourteen paintings from private collections in the UK and the United States, one of which, Brood Mares and Foals painted in 1767-68, has not been seen in public since the 18th century. It includes 32 works on paper and 35 paintings. There are also two enamelled works - this was a technique that Stubbs developed with Josiah Wedgwood and was used to great effect, most notably in his 1781 Self-Portrait.
A recurring theme in Stubbs's work are the horse and lion paintings, these were his response to the contemporary theory of the 'Sublime' as suggested by Edmund Burke in 1759. This suggested that art could deal in the terrible as well as the beautiful. It was an idea that fascinated Stubbs and one to which he returned many times.
