Horse Paintings

Horse Paintings are characterized by a sense of movement and power. The very same sense of power and movement that these creatures embody, find its way to the pictorial depictions of them.

“And God took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath over it and created the horse." - Bedouin Legend.

The wind like swiftness of the creature has inspired many painters to create works of art, which will carry the same blithe spirit. Some have been successful and some haven't but Horse Paintings always catches our attention because the sheer magnificence of the creature ensures that they are almost always picture perfect.

Horse Paintings of George Stubbs

George Stubbs an English Painters had a keen interest in horses and saw great potential in them as the subject of his paintings. Between 1756 and 1758 he spent eighteen months on an isolated Lincolnshire farm dissecting horses in order to understand their anatomy. This morbid albeit remarkable experience enabled him to corner the market in sporting pictures among a new generation of patrons who raced and bred horses.

These paintings, which he painted for his patrons, display not just a command of equine anatomy, but also sensitivity to the expressions, movements and character of horses that had not previously been seen in British art. However, Stubbs chose not to depict horses in races. He in a way eulogized them, whether they were active or in repose, to the equivalents of classical statues. This is especially noticeable in his 'Horse and Lion' pictures, which are among the most imaginative and sublime British paintings of the late eighteenth century.