Conformation and the Parade Ring · The Conformation
A Lion Attacking a Horse
George Stubbs, 1762 · oil on canvas
What it is
A lion has leapt onto the back of a chestnut horse, its claws in the flank, in George Stubbs’s oil on canvas of 1762.
Why it matters
In the same year as Whistlejacket, Stubbs turned his anatomical study to violence, and this is the most dramatic canvas of his lion series.
What to notice
The horse’s white tail and mane stream in opposite directions, and its head turns back to meet the lion’s face.
Strength, caught losing.
Provenance
- Maker
- George Stubbs, 1762
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1762
- Source
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection · via Wikimedia Commons
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the work’s own year of publication. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-01. Wikimedia Commons licence tag, read 2026-11-01: PD-Art|PD-old-100-1923|deathyear=1806. The maker died in 1806.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 27x41" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
Elsewhere in the family
- The Links — the other morning religion.
- Painted Lineage — the bloodline, beside the family line.
- Painted Earth — home ground as a period map.