George Stubbs

the long version

"George Stubbs (1724-1806) is one of Britain's best-loved painters. His pictures of famous racehorses and their riders and the more dramatic works showing horses and lions in combat are among the most familiar images in British art, prized for their subtlety, naturalism and piercing observation. Once marginalised as merely a humble sporting artist, Stubbs is now recognised as a key figure in British cultural tradition. In this highly original study, Martin Myrone presents a less familiar account of the artist. From his earliest anatomical studies through to his depictions of exotic animals and experiments with the industrialist Josiah Wedgwood, Stubbs is shown to have been dynamicallly engaged with the science, technology and popular culture of his day. He emerges from this new account as an artist more experimental and challenging than is conventionally thought."--Back cover.