Gentleman with his Hunter Stallion, after Stubbs, oil on canvas
A friend and client has always wanted an original painting by the famous horse painter George Stubbs. She attended an art auction in London, England, and was shocked to find how much they are worth. So I offered to paint one for her. Stubbs was a brilliant painter, but he was working before the invention of the camera, and he always made a few conformation mistakes in his paintings. His horses’ heads were always on the small side; their necks were always a little long, as if they had a couple of extra vertebrae; and the backs were often too long. I tried to incorporate similar “mistakes” in this painting. The gentleman is a particularly kind one (and looks a little like her husband), and the dog, unusually for a painting of the time, is just a mutt. The setting, as with many of Stubbs’ paintings, is totally imaginary.