Conformation and the Parade Ring · The Conformation
Study of a Racehorse in Action, Galloping to Left
George Stubbs, undated · red chalk and graphite on cream wove paper
What it is
A racehorse at full stretch, its skin drawn away to show the muscles beneath: George Stubbs’s semi-anatomical study in red chalk and graphite on cream wove paper.
Why it matters
Stubbs had dissected horses for The Anatomy of the Horse; this sheet puts that knowledge to work on a horse at speed.
What to notice
Every muscle of the shoulder and quarters is set down by its line, and the legs reach in the rocking-horse stretch painters used before photography.
What speed is made of.
Provenance
- Maker
- George Stubbs, undated
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- red chalk and graphite on cream wove paper
- Made
- 1806
- 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. Year for the gate, from the record: undated; the maker’s death year is used as the ceiling.
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 18x24" 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.