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| Lion and Lioness--Rocky Background George Stubbs, 1776 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Today’s theme—other than Duke and Duchess of Windsor—is “showing off” despite a rocky background. And, look, here’s a painting that very neatly summarizes this. This animal-themes painting is the work of the Eighteenth Century artist, George Stubbs.
Stubbs was essentially a self-taught artist though he did study briefly with Hamlet Winstanley (1694-1756), before becoming disgruntled and returning to his native Liverpool. Later, he would study anatomy in York. Stubbs became fascinated with the anatomy of animals, but had a hard time depicting them when they were alive—especially horses. So, he practiced by borrowing dead horses and posing them so he could figure out how all of their parts fit together. Sounds like a fun guy.
I don’t think the lions depicted here were dead. By 1776, Stubbs had gotten the hang of what he was doing. This painting was one part of a series of paintings that Stubbs began in 1770 of lion and lioness against varied backgrounds. The lions here strut about in greedy splendor against a rocky background.
Later, Stubbs would branch out and study such exotic animals as monkeys, zebras and yaks.
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