"To a greater degree than any earlier painter, Stubbs produced genuinely individual portraits of specific horses, paying intimate attention to details of their form. Minute blemishes, veins, and the muscles flexing just below the surface of the skin are all visible and reproduced with great care and realism. Whistlejacket had already retired after a fairly successful racing career, but was painted in this unusual form to show “a supremely beautiful specimen of the pure-bred Arabian horse at its finest”
“He was a Thoroughbred race horse foaled in 1749 at the stud of Sir William Middleton, 3rd Baronet at Belsay Castle in Northumberland and named after a contemporary cold remedy containing gin and treacle”
Catches my eye every time I’ve seen it in person at the National Gallery in London, which is 4 or 5 times now. There’s also always been at least 1 person sketching it. Can’t believe it was done 250 years ago
I can’t believe I missed it there, will need to visit! Indeed a striking picture, all about the horse not the rider or background.
