Signed and dated, lower right: "Geo: Stubbs p | 1778"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.10
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
river | willow tree | animal art | clouds | animal | dog (animal) | Spaniel | trees | flowers (plants)
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)Best in Show - The Dog in Art from Renaissance to Post-Modern (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2006-10-01 - 2007-01-01)Best in Show - The Dog in Art from Renaissance to Post-Modern (Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, 2006-05-13 - 2006-08-27)The Paul Mellon Bequest : Treasures of a Lifetime (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-02-17 - 2001-04-29)George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon: a Memorial Exhibition (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2000-02-14 - 2000-05-15)George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon: a Memorial Exhibition (Yale Center for British Art, 1999-04-30 - 1999-09-05)Stubbs - An Exhibition in Honor of Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1985-04-11 - 1985-05-04)George Stubbs (1724-1806) Tate Gallery (Tate Britain, 1984-10-17 - 1985-01-06)George Stubbs (1724-1806) Tate Gallery (Yale Center for British Art, 1985-02-13 - 1985-04-07)Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
Edgar Peters Bowron, Best in Show, The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to today , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006, cover, pp. 47, 148, fig. 34, N7668.D6 B48 2006 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, George Stubbs in the collection of Paul Mellon : A memorial exhibition, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1999, p. 75, no. 56, NJ18 St915 G54 1999 (YCBA)Susan Dunne, Nicola Hicks finds expressive matches, Hartford Courant, , December 8, 2013, p. G6, ProQuest News & NewspapersJudy Egerton, British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867 : A Catalogue : The Paul Mellon Collection, , Tate Publishing, London, 1978, p. 91, no. 88, Pl. 33, ND1383 G7 B75 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, 1724-1806, [exhibition] Tate Gallery. , Tate Publishing, London, 1984, p. 140, no. 101, NJ18 St915 E43 (YCBA) +Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, painter : catalogue raisonne, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 58, 399, no. 194, NJ18 St915 A12 +E44 2007 (YCBA)Robert Fountain, Stubbs' dogs, the hounds and domestic dogs of the eighteenth century as seen through the paintings of George Stubbs , Arthur Ackermann & Son Ltd., London, 1984, pp. 56, 88, no. 23, fig. 30, NJ18 St915 A12 (YCBA) +George Stubbs, 1724-1806, an exhibition held from 13th July to 25th August at the Walker Art Gallery, 1951. , Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1951, p. 19, no. 43, NJ18 St915 A12 1951 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 171 (v.1), no. 326, pl. 173, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 77 (v.1), no. 271, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA)Constance-Anne Parker, Mr. Stubbs, the Horse Painter, J. A. Allen, London, 1971, pp. 94, 97, NJ18 St915 +P37 Oversize (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)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, no. 20, V 0413 (YCBA)Malcolm Warner, The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 53, N5247 M385 P28 2001 (YCBA)Whitechapel Art Gallery, George Stubbs, 1724-1806., Catalogue of an exhibition of paintings, drawings and engravings held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, from 27th February--7th April, 1957. , London, 1957, p. 20, no. 39, NJ18 St915 T36 1957 (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 49 (v.1), no. 183, ND466 Y35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
The Norfolk Spaniel, which no longer exists as a pure breed, was used by sportsmen to spring and retrieve game from water. George Stubbs presents the animal as the slightly melancholy hero of its own watery world, looming like a giant over riverbanks, water plants, and weeping willow. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Provenance:
Created by George Stubbs (1724–1806), the artist; …; acquired by Harold Davies, London, England by ca. 1930 [a]; purchased by Leggatt Brothers, London, England [b]; purchased by Muriel Cecil Harriott Dewar (née Heaton-Ellis), Baroness Forteviot (1890–1975), House of Ross, Perthshire, Scotland [1][c]; consigned to Frank Patridge & Sons, London, England and Arthur Ackermann & Sons, Ltd., London, England (jointly owned), 1960 [d]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1960), 1960 [e]; bequest, to the Yale Center for British Art, 2001. Footnotes: --- [1] Lady Forteviot married John Dewar, second Baron Forteviot (1885–1947) in 1946, shortly after the death of his first wife, her sister, Marjory Winton Isobel Dewar (née Heaton-Ellis) (d. 1945). Lady Forteviot sold most of her collection at auction through Sotheby’s in London on June 4, 1969, except for this painting which was sold privately. Citations: --- [a] Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, Painter: Catalogue Raisonné, (Yale University Press, 2007), 58, 399, no. 194. --- [b] Ibid. --- [c] Ibid. --- [d] Ibid. --- [e] Ibid. ---