George Stubbs (1724 – 1806)

• Was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.
• Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the eighteenth century such as Reynolds or Gainsborough.
• Stubbs' greatest skill was in painting animals, perhaps influenced by his love and study of anatomy.
• Stubbs worked at his father's trade until the age of 15 or 16, at which point he told his father that he wished to become a painter.
• In 1754 Stubbs visited Italy.
• In 1756 he rented a farmhouse in the village of Horkstow, Lincolnshire, and spent 18 months dissecting horses, assisted by his common-law wife, Mary Spencer.
• Stubbs also painted more exotic animals including lions, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, and rhinoceroses, which he was able to observe in private menageries.
• The British Royal Collection holds 16 paintings by Stubbs.
• The record price for a Stubbs painting was set by the sale at auction of Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey (1765) at Christie's in London in July 2011 for £22.4 million.
• It was sold by the British Woolavington Collection of sporting art; the buyer was unidentified.
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