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Creator:
George Stubbs, born in Liverpool, England, 1724; active in England; died in London, England, 1806
Title:
A Lion Attacking a Stag
Former Title(s):

Lion devouring a stag

Lion Slaying a Buck

Lion Killing a Stag
Date:
between 1765 and 1766
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
96 × 131 inches (243.8 × 332.7 cm), Frame: 116 × 143 7/8 inches (294.6 × 365.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.72
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1977.14.72FR
Subject Terms:
animal art | claws | dark | deer | hunting | lion | stag
Access:
On view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:418
Export:
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IIIF Manifest:
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Like its companion A Lion Attacking a Horse (shown nearby), this painting was commissioned by Charles WatsonWentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham, to hang in the Green Room of his London residence in Grosvenor Square. The monumental scale of both works effectively elevated animal painting to the status of history painting, the highest genre of academic art. In addition, by taking on the themes of a lion devouring a horse and a lion attacking a stag, Stubbs was consciously participating in an artistic tradition dating back millennia. The frieze-like arrangement of the animals in A Lion Attacking a Stag recalls especially the art of classical antiquity, particularly ancient coinage where the motif of a lion preying on a stag was often used to symbolize a ruler’s power. Both paintings retain their original frames.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Commissioned by Charles Watson-Wentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham (1730–1782), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England, from George Stubbs (1724–1806), the artist [1][a]; by inheritance to his nephew, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England; by descent to his son, Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, fifth Earl Fitzwilliam (1786–1857), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England [3]; by descent to his son, William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam, sixth Earl FitzWilliam (1815–1902), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England; by descent to his grandson, William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, seventh Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England [2]; by descent to his son, William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, eighth Earl Fitzwilliam (1910–1948), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England; by descent to his daughter, Ann Juliet Dorothea Maud Tadgell (née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam) (born 1935), Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, England [3]; purchased at auction by Walter Victor Hutchinson (1887–1950), London, England, at Christie, Manson & Woods, in London, England, June 11, 1948 (lot 58, ‘A Lion Attacking a Stag’), in "Pictures by Old Masters and Historical Portraits: the Properties of the Right Hon. Earl Fitzwilliam, D.S.C., Removed from Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire..." [4][b]; ...; acquired by Frank Partridge & Sons Ltd., London, England by 1960 [5][c]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), November 7, 1960 [d]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1977.

Notes:
[1] Charles Watson-Wentworth was a British politician who served two terms as Prime Minister and a prominent patron of Stubbs. He commissioned Stubbs for this painting and Lion Attacking a Horse (1762). While this work was created to accompany the 1762 painting, no receipts of its commission have been located.

Lord Rockingham intended for the painting to be hung in the Green Room at his residence in Grosvenor Square, though it eventually passed to Wentworth Woodhouse, the family residence of the Earls FitzWilliam, who inherited all of Lord Rockingham’s property.

[2] The sixth Earl Fitzwilliam’s eldest son, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton (1839–1877), predeceased him due to complications caused by lifelong bouts of illness. Before his death, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam had one son with his wife, Laura Maria Theresa Beauclerk (1849–1886). As a result, the earldom and Wentworth Woodhouse passed onto this son, William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam.

[3] When the eighth Earl Fitzwilliam died in 1948, his peerages passed to his second cousin once removed Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, ninth Earl Fitzwilliam (1883–1952). However, Wentworth Woodhouse—which included most of the family’s art collection—passed onto his daughter, Ann Juliet Dorothea Maud Tadgell (née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam), who was only thirteen years old at the time. Following the earl's death, Tadgell and her mother vacated Wentworth Woodhouse and various objects from the collection were subsequently gifted and sold.

[4] Walter Victor Hutchinson was a publisher and art collector. He founded the National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes in February 1949, which opened at his offices and gallery at Hutchinson House. This painting was displayed at the opening of the gallery in the main ballroom alongside another painting by Stubbs. The gallery closed in 1951, and its collection was sold through a series of three sales run by Christie, Manson & Woods. However, this painting and its companion do not appear in those sales. Hutchinson may have sold them prior to his death.

[5] This painting and its companion piece were included in Frank Patridge & Sons 1960 fall exhibition of English sporting paintings, which took place from November 1 to December 3 at the firm’s New Bond Street location.

Citations:
[a] Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, Painter: Catalogue Raisonné (Yale University Press, 2007), 293, no. 111.
[b] Christie, Manson & Woods, Catalogue of Pictures by Old Masters and Historical Portraits (Christie, Manson & Woods, 1948), 7.
[c] Frank Partridge & Sons, Ltd., Autumn Exhibition 1960: English Sporting Pictures (Tillotsons (Bolton) Ltd., 1960), 33–35, no. 61.
[d] Malcolm Cormack, A Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 1985), 216. https://archive.org/concisecatalogue0000yale.

In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon: a Memorial Exhibition (Yale Center for British Art, 1999-04-30 - 1999-09-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

George Stubbs (1724-1806) Tate Gallery (Yale Center for British Art, 1985-02-13 - 1985-04-07) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

George Stubbs (1724-1806) Tate Gallery (Tate Britain, 1984-10-17 - 1985-01-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Sir Geoffrey Agnew, Yale's 1700 Mellon Pictures, The Times (London), , April 28, 1977, p. 9, Times Digital Archive [ORBIS]

British Art at Yale, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, p. 287, N1 .A54 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

H. F. Constantine, Lord Rockingham and Stubbs: Some New Documents, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 95, No. 604, July 1953, p. 237, N1 B87+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, A Selective Promenade, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, p. 287, N1 A54 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 216-217, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, George Stubbs in the collection of Paul Mellon : A memorial exhibition, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1999, p. 35, no. 16, NJ18 St915 G54 1999 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Frederick J. Cummings, Catalogue of the exhibition : Romantic art in Britain : Painting and drawings, 1760-1860, Detroit and Philadelphia, 1968, pp. 51-53, N6766 C8 + oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867 : A Catalogue : The Paul Mellon Collection, , Tate Publishing, London, 1978, pp. 75-77, no. 75, ND1383 G7 B75 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, 1724-1806, [exhibition] Tate Gallery. , Tate Publishing, London, 1984, p. 93, no. 61, NJ18 St915 E43 (YCBA) + [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, painter : catalogue raisonne, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 293-3, no. 111, NJ18 St915 A12 +E44 2007 (YCBA) [YCBA]

English sporting paintings, Autumn exhibition 1960 ... Frank Partridge & Sons Ltd. ... November 1st-December 3rd. , Frank Partridge & Sons, Ltd., London, 1960, no. 61, DealerCat Partridge Fine Arts, Ltd. (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Fletcher, Deer in British sporting art, Essays of Friends of British Sporting Art, no. 60, The British Sporting Art Trust, London, 2013, pp. 3, 5,6, fig 10, N8250 .B571 60 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Douglas Fordham, George Stubbs Zoon Politikon, Oxford Art Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, 2010, pp. 4, 16, figs. 1, 9, N1 O83 + Oversize (HAAS) Also available online (Orbis). [ORBIS]

Walter Gilbey, Life of George Stubbs, R.A., Vinton, London, 1898, p. 169, no. 6, NJ18 St915 G55 (HAAS) [ORBIS]

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 62, ND466 .G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ozias Humphry, Ozias Humphry manuscript memoir of George Stubbs, Picton Collection, Liverpool Record Office, 1875, p. 24, Film B168 (YCBA) [YCBA]

National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, list of sports and pastimes : the first 600 selected pictures : there are 3,000 and more paintings, coloured prints, etc., which will be exhibited from time to time. , National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, London, 1950, no. 339, N8250 L65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Constance-Anne Parker, Mr. Stubbs, the Horse Painter, J. A. Allen, London, 1971, pp. 65,72,81, NJ18 St915 +P37 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v.1, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Alex Potts, Natural Order and the Call of the Wild: The Politics of Animal Picturing, Oxford Art Journal, vol. 13, 1990, p. 31, fn 8, N1 O83 + (HAAS) Also Available on line in JSTOR and Oxford University Press Journal data bases. [ORBIS]

Society of Artists of Great Britain, A catalogue of the pictures, sculptures, designs in architecture, models, drawings, prints, etc. exhibited by the Society of Artists of Great Britain at the Great Room, Spring Garden, Charing Cross, April the twenty-first, 1766. . ., William Bunce, London, UK, April 21 1766, p. 12, no. 164, N5055 .S6 C3 (RARE BOOKS, YCBA) [ORBIS]

Society of Artists of Great Britain, A critical review of the pictures, sculptures, designs in architecture, drawings, prints, etc., exhibited at the great room in Spring Gardens, Charing Cross. , R. Dymott, London, UK, 1766, pp. 13-14, no. 164, N5055 S6 C3 1760A (RARE BOOKS, YCBA) unable to locate Online in 18th Century Collections Online - Gale or in Short Tttle Catalogue data base [ORBIS]

Society of Artists of Great Britain, The exhibition : or a candid display of the genius and merits of the several masters whose works are now offered to the public at Spring Gardens / by an impartial hand, London, 1766, p. 9, N6055 S6 C3 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Walter Shaw Sparrow, George Stubbs as a Painter of Big Game, Connoisseur, v. 96, no. 408, August 1935, pp. 63, 67, N1 C75+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

Basil Taylor, George Stubbs: The lion and horse theme, The Lion and Horse Theme , Burlington Magazine, Vol. 107, No.743, February 1965, pp. 81-87, fig. 36, N1 B87+ (YCBA) Available online on JSTOR [YCBA]

The works of James Barry, Esq. Historical painter... Containing his correspondence from France and Italy with Mr. Burke - His lectures on painting delivered at the Royal Academy - Observations on differnt works of art in Italy and France - Critical remarks on the principal paintings of the Orleans Galle, , John M'Creery, London, 1809, pp. 256-6, N7445.2 .B27 (YCBA) + [YCBA]

Horace Walpole, Notes by Horace Walpole, fourth Earl of Oxford, on the exhibitions of the Society of Artists and the Free Society of Artists, 1760-1791, Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 27, Oxford, 1912, pp. 55-88, N5055 S6 C31 1939A [ORBIS]

Malcolm Warner, George Stubbs, his patrons and collectors , Magazine Antiques, vol. 166, no. 6, December 2004, p. 68, V 1629 (YCBA) Available Online (Orbis). [YCBA]


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