STUBBS, George
(b. 1724, Liverpool, d. 1806, London)

Two Bay Hunters in a Paddock

1789
Oil on panel, 90 x 137 cm
Private collection

The composition of two horses communing face to face seems to have increasingly interested Stubbs in the late 1780s and early 1790s. The tranquil and serenely bucolic setting – a paddock in spring, with clumps of burdock in the foreground, a low paling fence curving round to a thatched shelter and distant hills beyond – is equally typical of Stubbs's preferred setting for his portraits of horses in the latter part of his career: the mood reflective and calm, the emphasis being on the noble dignity of the animals themselves.




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