Life Of George Stubbs R.A

GILBEY, Sir Walter [Bart.] Vinton & Co 10" x 8" x 1 1/4"D 1898 [234] pp. Frontis. engraved portrait. with tissue guard. Illustrated with 13 plates of steel engravings by J. B. Pratt and wood engravings by F. Babbage. Number 58 of an edition limited to 150 copies. Marbled endpapers. Bound in dark red pebble-grain morocco with elaborate gilt figures on front and rear covers, gilt lettering and figures stamped on spine, inside dentelles. Top edge gilt. The book remains sturdy and well bound. Stubbs was the foremost English animal painter of his age, an appellation earned by engaging in the dissection of horses at a Lincolnshire farm bought for that purpose. Thus, like da Vinci, Stubbs depictions of nature are informed by his experiences as an anatomist. Stubbs was dismissed as a mere painter of horses while his contemporaries engaged in studies of the ancient world to understand and convey the condition of man. As recognized today, Stubbs prioritized the study of nature to understand the world, and specifically the noble qualities of the horse, thus presenting an argument that nature, not man, always prevails as the supreme universal truth. Scarce.…