Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2006.14.1
Gallery Label:
George Stubbs returned repeatedly to the theme of the lion attacking a horse in his early career. The painter Benjamin West owned this small version of the subject until his death in 1820, and it may have been made in preparation for an enamel painting of the exact same composition that Stubbs made in 1769. The enamel version was an experimental picture, typical of Stubbs’s fascination with new techniques and technology, and for which he may have wished to make a detailed model in a more familiar medium. Alternatively, West may have asked for a simple replica of that enamel version after seeing the picture. Gallery label for A Decade of Gifts and Acquisitions (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-06-01 - 2017-08-13)
