Stubbs “Whistlejacket”: A longer look

Interesting morning at the National Gallery looking in detail at Whistlejacket by Stubbs led by Nicholas Pace.

I know very little about Stubbs so found this session fascinating. I love the picture but knew very little about it other than the slightly random fact of where it was painted for. The talk took us through the amazing anatomical studies Stubbs made of horses and how he went about them, grizzly but interesting. We then went to look at the picture and he talked more about why it may look the way it does and whether it was ever meant to have a background or even a rider.

Back in the seminar room we looked at his later work particularly of more exotic animals and of fighting horses and lions which he hoped would boost his reputation with the Academy.

What fascinated me most though was seeing Stubbs as an artist of the Enlightenment (forget any hideous time frames which might place him as Rocco!) and very much part of his time working for the rich young gentry and studying anatomy. I got the impression of incredibly hard working artist painting by day and preparing all the etchings for his book on the anatomy of the horse at night.  I also got a vivid picture of London at the time with a riding academy in Soho, a zoo off the Aldwych and Stubbs own studio on the site of Selfridges.

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