Who was George Stubbs?
Painter.
Date and Place of Birth:
24th August 1724, Dale Street, Liverpool, England.
Family Background:
Son of a prosperous tanner.
Education:
Briefly apprenticed to a painter but largely
self-taught.
Chronology/Biography of George Stubbs:
1739: Takes his
first painting lesson under Harriet Winstanley.
1743: Over the next
few years he plies his trade as a portrait painter in Leeds then
York, Wigan and Hull. Begins to study anatomy in earnest.
1754: Sails to Italy
to study painting and then returns to England via Morocco.
1756: Birth of his
first son George Townley.
1758: Studies the
anatomy of horses in Horkstow in Lincolnshire.
1759: Moves to London.
1760: Receives his
first commission for paintings of horses.
1763: Moves to 24
Somerset Street, Portman Square. Exhibits with the Society of Artists.
1773: Elected as
President of the Society of Artists.
1775: Experiments
with enamel painting when he meets Josiah Wedgwood
at his Staffordshire pottery factory.
1780: Becomes an
Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
1781: Elected a
full member of the Royal Academy.
1790: Is commissioned
to do a series of portraits of racehorses for the "Turf Review".
1795: Works on his
"Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the
Human Body with that of the Tiger and Common Fowl", a work
which he is never to complete.
1801: Sues Sir Henry
Vane-Tempest for non payment of his bill for the picture of the
racehorse Hambletonian, now in Northern Ireland.
Written Works:
- 1766: "The
Anatomy of the Horse".
Marriage:
Never married but his long time common law wife
was Mary Spencer.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
The National Gallery.
Tate Britain.
Date and Place of Death:
12th July 1806, London, England.
Age at Death:
82.
Site of Grave:
St. Marylebone "Old " Parish Church,
Marylebone High Street, London, England.
