STUBBS, George engraved by George Townly STUBBS
Sharke
London: Published by Edward Orme, June 4th, 1817. Colour printed stipple with etching. State iii/iii, with the title in closed letters, and engraved inscription (with variations in the punctuation): 'George Stubbs pinxt.*** Geo: Townly Stubbs sculpt. Engraver to his R.H. the Prince of Wales / SHARKE / London, Republished June 4th 1817, by Edwd. Orme, Bond Street.'. Plate mark: 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches.
A magnificent portrait of the famous racehorse Sharke, who served at stud in Virginia and "did as much to enhance the value of the bloodstock of the United States as any horse ever imported" ("American Turf Register" [1830], vol. V, p.173).
George Stubbs is considered one of the greatest English painters. His ingenious animal and sporting pictures remain unrivalled in their passionate depiction of emotion and their commitment to naturalistic observation. Stubbs was briefly apprenticed to the painter Hamlet Winstanley, a relationship that quickly ended, leaving the young artist to his own tuition. In contrast to contemporary academic theory, Stubbs attached great importance to the belief that art should imitate nature, not the work of other artists. He spent years carefully studying human and equine anatomy so that he could truthfully represent natural form and movement. A result of this study was his famous 'Anatomy of the Horse', which details, with beautiful engraving, the various elements of a horse's anatomy, from skeletal form to muscular definition. By the 1760's, Stubbs had developed a considerable reputation as a sporting artist and had attracted a number of distinguished patrons. Continuing in search on innovation, Stubbs began experimenting with a myriad of different mediums, becoming accomplished in both enamels and printmaking. Through arduous application, he became a talented mezzotint engraver and worked with ease in both soft ground, and etching techniques. Stubbs' masterful paintings inspired some of the greatest engravers of the day to reproduce his work for publication, including his own son George Townley Stubbs who reproduced with faithful accuracy the sublime emotion inherent in his father's exquisite works. Stubbs was elected director of the Society of Artists and a Royal Academician, and today his prized paintings are housed in some of the finest museums in the world. Stubbs was often commissioned to paint accurate portraits of specific racehorses for proud aristocratic patrons, who wished to highlight their horses' racing success. This practice is expertly exemplified with this magnificent print of the show horse Sharke, commissioned by his owner Robert Pigott. The image shows Sharke in a classically inspired landscape with his trainer Price. Speaking of the horse the sporting magazine commented " A most beautiful as well as a very famous horse; he won five single matches for one thousand guineas each, and upwards of twenty thousand guineas in stakes". This beautiful print demonstrates that, with subtle atmospheric effects and complex compositional structure, Stubbs succeeds in raising the genre of equine portraiture to a poetic level.
Lennox-Boyd, George Stubbs 111, iii/iii; Siltzer, The Story of British Sporting Prints p. 272.
Item #4901
Price: $4,000.00