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Creator:
George Stubbs, born in Liverpool, England, 1724; active in England; died in London, England, 1806
Title:
Bulls Fighting
Former Title(s):
Fighting Bulls [1787, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
Date:
1786
Materials & Techniques:
beeswax and oil on panel
Dimensions:
24 1/4 x 32 1/2 inches (61.6 x 82.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Signed and dated, lower right: "geo : stubbs pinxit | 1786"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.93
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1977.14.93FR
Subject Terms:
animal art | bulls (animals) | clouds | fighting | horns | lake | landscape | sky | trees
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:432
Export:
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IIIF Manifest:
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Created by George Stubbs (1724–1806), the artist; ...; acquired by Thomas Vernon, Liverpool, England [1][a]; [sale, Peter Coxe & Co., in London, England, June 18, 1813 (lot 85, ‘Bulls Fighting’), in "A Very Capital Collection of Paintings" (unsold)] [b][c]; ...; acquired by John Hope Barton (1833–1876), Saxby Hall, Lincolnshire, England by 1868 [2][d]; by descent to his son, Henry John Hope Barton (1873–1951) Saxby Hall, Lincolnshire, England; by descent to his son, John George Hope Barton (1908–1956), London, England; by inheritance to his wife, Mary Alice Hope Barton (née Collins), London, England [3]; purchased at auction by Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, England at Sotheby & Co., in London, England, December 2, 1964 (lot 16, ‘Bulls Fighting), in "Important Old Master Paintings" [e]; privately purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1965 [f]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1977.

Notes:
[1] Thomas Vernon was a Liverpool-based picture dealer, bookseller, and the first major auctioneer in the region. His firm, Thomas Vernon & Comp, was active from 1794 to 1802.

[2] John Hope Barton was an officer in the 1st West Yorkshire Yeomanry Cavalry and the Master of the Badsworth Hunt at Stapleton Park from 1869 until his death. As the only son of John Watson Barton (1798–1840), Barton was seven years old when he inherited Saxby Hall and Stapleton Park.

Barton lent the painting to the 1868 National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds (no. 1129, ‘Bulls Fighting (The Chillingham Castle Breed)’). The description for the painting incorrectly attributes the landscape portion to Joseph Wright of Derby.

[3] The lot description in the 1964 Sotheby’s sale states that the owner is a "Mrs. M.A. Hope Barton de Ross." The most likely candidate for this identity is Mary Alice Hope Barton (née Collins), the wife of John George Hope Barton. The year prior to his death, Barton sold the Saxby Hall estate.

Citations:
[a] Burton B. Frederickson, ed., The Index of Paintings Sold in the British Isles during the Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 1811–1815, Part 1 (ABC-CLIO, 1988), 57.

[b] Peter Coxe & Co., A Catalogue of a Very Capital Collection of Paintings (London: J. Meyer, 1813), 10.

[c] Walter Gilbey, Life of George Stubbs, R.A. (London: Vinton & Co.,1898), 95. https://archive.org/embed/lifeofgeorgestub00gilb.

[d] J.B. Waring et al., National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868. Official Catalogue. (Leeds: National Exhibition Executive Committee, 1868), 68. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t3rv3zn3r.

[e] Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of Important Old Master Paintings (Sotheby & Co., 1964), 10. [f] Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, Painter: Catalogue Raisonné (Yale University Press, 2007), 496, no. 268.

The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition (Royal Academy of Arts, 2018-06-11 - 2018-08-19) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon: a Memorial Exhibition (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2000-02-14 - 2000-05-15) [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]

Stubbs - An Exhibition in Honor of Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1985-04-11 - 1985-05-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

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]

Robin Blake, George Stubbs and the wide creation, animals, people and places in the life of George Stubbs, 1724-1806 , Chatto & Windus, London : Chatto & Windus, 2005, 2005, pp. 226, 249, 250-51, 254, pl. 31, NJ18.St915 B53 2005 (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. 218-219, 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. 61, no. 38, NJ18 St915 G54 1999 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Stephen Deuchar, Sporting art in eighteenth-century England, a social and political history , Yale University Press, New Haven, 1988, p. 154, N8250 D48 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867 : A Catalogue : The Paul Mellon Collection, , Tate Publishing, London, 1978, pp. 94-95, no. 92, ND1383 G7 B75 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, 1724-1806, [exhibition] Tate Gallery. , Tate Publishing, London, 1984, p. 171, no. 128, NJ18 St915 E43 (YCBA) + [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, painter : catalogue raisonne, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 496-7, no. 268, NJ18 St915 A12 +E44 2007 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Fighting Bulls, Burlington Magazine, vol. 106,no. 740, November 1964, p. xiv, N1 B87 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Fighting Bulls, Connoisseur, vol. 158, February 1965, p. 128, N1 C75 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

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

Nicholas H. J. Hall, Fearful symmetry : George Stubbs, painter of the English Enlightenment, , Hall & Knight Ltd., New York, 2000, pp. 146-9, pl. 33, NJ18 St915 F4 2000 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Mark Hallett, The Great Spectacle: 250 years of the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, [London], 2018, p. 38, no. 14, N5054 .H35 2018 (LC) Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Lucinda Hawksley, Fifty British Artists You Should Know, Prestel, Munich : New York, NY, 2011, p. 28, N6796 .H39 2011 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Lawrence, A philosophical and practical treatise on horses and on the moral duties of man towards the brute creation., Symonds, London, UK, 1802, pp. 428-9 (v.2), Szlb 435 (LSF - MUDD) [ORBIS]

Venetia Morrison, The art of George Stubbs, Wellfleet Press, Seacaucus, N.J., 1989, pp. 150-2, NJ18 St915 M67 1989+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

National Exhibition of Works of Art, at Leeds, 1868, official catalogue , Edward Baines and Sons, Leeds, 1868, Fiche B1244 Fiche.N.4.2.368 (SML) [ORBIS]

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]

Sotheby's sale catalogue : Catalogue of Important Old Master Paintings : 2 December 1964, Sotheby's, London, December 2, 1964, p. 10, lot 16.94, Auction Catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]

Walter Shaw Sparrow, A book of sporting painters, John Lane, London, UK & New York, NY, 1931, p. 86, 88, ND1385. S62 + [BRBL] [ORBIS]

Walter Shaw Sparrow, George Stubbs and Ben Marshall, v. 2, Cassell Scribner, London New York, 1929, pp. 28, 30, NJ18 St915 S73 1929 (YCBA) + [YCBA]

Stubbs, an exhibition in honor of Paul Mellon : National Gallery of Art, 4 May-2 June 1985. , National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1985, p. 8, no. 26, V 0413 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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