George Stubbs
George Stubbs
George Stubbs 1724 - 1806
Horses inside out
George, the Anatomy Horse
The Anatomy of the Horse
Stubbs in Horkstow continued
Stubbs in Horkstow
Stubbs in North Lincolnshire: The Nelthorpe family
Stubbs the Anatomist
George Stubbs
2024 marks the 300th anniversary of painter George Stubbs’ birth.Stubbs was a self-trained painter, he is mostly recognised for his paintings of animals, horses in particular. Stubbs was also commissioned to paint many portraits.
But Stubbs was also an anatomist. He investigated human and animal anatomy in great detail, especially that of the horse. Stubbs conducted very important work while in Horkstow, North Lincolnshire.
Start to the right and follow Stubbs’ story and a series of six large images showing the stages of dissection.
George Stubbs 1724 - 1806
George Stubbs was born in Liverpool on 25 August 1724.Stubbs’ contemporary, Ozias Humphry, wrote that Stubbs wanted to “qualify himself for painting Rural, Pastoral and Familiar subjects in History as well as Portraiture”.
Stubbs’ career as a painter started at the age of 15, when he worked for the painter Hamlet Winstanley. For several years Stubbs worked from home where “Nature was his only study, and experience his master”.
From circa 1744, Stubbs found himself patrons in Wigan and Leeds.
Horses inside out
George, the Anatomy Horse
Meet “George”, he is painted by Gillian Higgins from Horses Inside Out. Horses Inside Out is a company which specialises in teaching horse anatomy. Gillian is one of the leading equine anatomy and biomechanics educators in the world. Her trademark teaching aid are horses themselves. Gillian paints life horses to show how their muscles and bones work when a horse moves.Learn more about Gillian and Horses Inside Out on their website.
www.horsesinsideout.com
The Anatomy of the Horse
The large images on display here are copies of the finished studies of all six stages. Stubbs created these drawings in Horkstow between 1756 and 1758.In 1758 Stubbs went to London to engrave his drawings for the book. Due to other commitments, it took him six years to engrave all the images.
‘The Anatomy of the Horse’ was well received, and Stubbs’ career and status in the art world changed. Stubbs received many commissions for paintings and in 1795 he started another anatomy project.
Stubbs in Horkstow continued
Stubbs’ method was to strip the cadaver layer by layer. He drew and described everything he saw. In his time at Horkstow, Stubbs worked on between 12 and 14 horses.His drawings show a horse in several stages of dissection and from different angles. In the final publication there are three positions: side, front and back. These positions are all shown in six stages. The stages reflect the stripping down of the cadaver, removing skin, muscles and other soft tissue layer by layer.
Stubbs in Horkstow
Between the years 1756 and 1758 Stubbs rented a farmhouse and barn in Horkstow, North Lincolnshire. It is likely that Lady Nelthorpe helped Stubbs to find a workplace as well as a residence in the village.For about 18 months Stubbs and Mary Spencer worked on illustrating horse anatomy.
The horse cadavers were hung using two large hooks, which hooked under the spine. The feet rested on a suspended beam to keep the body’s natural form.
Stubbs in North Lincolnshire: The Nelthorpe family
During his career Stubbs had several patrons. The Nelthorpe family was one of his earliest patrons. At the time the Nelthorpe family’s main residence was Baysgarth House in Barton-upon-Humber.Today the Nelthorpe family lives at Scawby Hall. Here visitors can admire several paintings by Stubbs and a first edition of the Anatomy of the Horse. One of the paintings on display is the earliest known portrait by Stubbs: a double portrait of Sir Henry and Lady Elizabeth Nelthorpe.
www.scawbyhall.com
Stubbs the Anatomist
Stubbs moved to York, where he produced illustrations for John Burton’s ‘Essay Towards a Complete New System of Midwifry’, published in 1751. The very detailed images were made possible by a morbid practice of the time: body snatching. A ‘subject’ was found, Stubbs’ pupils removed her from her grave and Stubbs did all the dissections necessary for the publications.John Burton who urged Stubbs to learn the art of engraving, so that he could engrave all his drawings for the publication.
