Whistlejacket

Stubbs spent eighteen months dissecting horses before painting this life-size portrait of Whistlejacket, owned by the Marquess of Rockingham. The painting was originally to include the Marquess on horseback against a Yorkshire landscape; both were removed. The horse stands against blank canvas at the size and pose of a state portrait — the form Stubbs reserved for kings, given to a horse. Now at National Gallery, London @nationalgallery