Stubbs is well known for his paintings of horses. Less well known is the fact that he studied the anatomy of the animal assiduously. In fact, Stubbs had a childhood preoccupation with anatomy that developed into a major interest.
Stubbs apparently skinned horses and then studied the muscle structure in order to produce drawings that were representative of the animal's body. Further he looked at the skeletons of animals which he drew and eventually published for others to observe and use. Stubbs hoped this would be of benefit to artists but also to people who cared for horses.
Stubbs considerable knowledge of anatomy, gained in ghastly conditions, over several years, enabled him to bring a new standard to horse painting.
Depicting a high spirited horse and at first sight convincing, critics have said that further study shows the Van Dyck horse to be somewhat flaccid in its hindquarters and lacking conviction in that no underlying muscle activity is represented.
'Whistlejacket' 1762 is a lovely painting of a horse by Stubbs. According to some critics this painting is an accurate representation of the horse that lends authority to the work. However it must be true that however much knowledge Stubbs gained of the horse his paintings represent more than accuracy, rather artistry is also at work.
Stubbs was asked to paint other animals and his work contains a wide variety of dogs, as well as more exotic animals. I particularly like this 'Zebra'.
Overall then, whilst accuracy may be an objective aim in animal studies, capturing the essence of an animal is also important and Stubbs seems to have had both these abilities as well as helping others to achieve them.
Images of a dog's muscle structure together with below the image of a cat's skeleton.
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