Hand-painted in oil
About this Artwork
Breeding stock, at rest
Mares and foals is a category, not a scene. Pictures of this kind show the animals a stud was built on, standing or grazing in a group, and their function in the picture is to be looked at as property with a future rather than to perform. There is no rider, no vehicle and no contest. This is the horse considered as an asset in the process of reproducing itself, and the sporting tradition gave the subject its own recognised format.
What the record holds
The catalogue gives 1768 as the date of creation and Tate Britain in London as the location. The dimensions are 101.6 x 161.9 cm, considerably wider than tall — a shape suited to a line of animals arranged across the picture. Romanticism is the style term and British the nationality attached to the painter. A landscape heading accompanies Animal Art > Horse, and the measured colour family of the image is brown.
What this entry will not say about the animals
Pictures of this class were commissioned partly as records of particular animals, and owners knew which was which. The catalogue record does not, and this register does not identify breed under any circumstances. The entry describes the category the picture belongs to and stops there.
Sources
5 references- Stubbs, George Townley — Getty ULAN
English engraver, 1756-1815
- George Stubbs — Wikipedia
George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 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 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds and Thom
- Stubbs, George — Getty ULAN
English painter, 1724-1806
- Mares and Foals in a River Landscape — Wikipedia
Mares and Foals in a River Landscape is an oil on canvas painting by the English painter George Stubbs, created around 1763 and 1768. It is held in the Tate Modern, in London. == History and description == This painting was created at a tim
- George Stubbs (1724-1806) - Mares and Foals in a River Landscape - T00295 - Tate — Wikimedia Commons
High-resolution image of the work, hosted on Wikimedia Commons.
