Whistlejacket, by George Stubbs
A life-size horse portrait with an interesting history
George Stubbs (1724–1806) is renowned as the greatest of all painters of the horse, and other animals, although he was also a highly accomplished portrait painter of people. His skill at accurate portrayal derived not only from his talents as an artist but from his lifelong interest in anatomy, both of humans and horses.
Born in Liverpool on 25th August 1724, George Stubbs followed his father’s trade as a currier (a worker in leather goods) while also teaching himself to draw and later to paint. He combined his painting with the study of human anatomy, which included dissection. From 1756 he was able to extend these studies to include horses, and he spent some 18 months dissecting horses, stripping away layer after layer of skin and muscle until he came to the skeleton, all the while drawing and making notes.
Stubbs applied his acquired knowledge to portraits of horses and their owners, riders and grooms, for which there was a regular demand from the aristocratic horse-racing and hunting fraternity. He died on 10th July 1806 at the age of 81.
Whistlejacket
“Whistlejacket” is one his earliest horse portraits, dating from 1762. It was commissioned by Charles Watson-Wentworth, the 2nd Marquess of…