Conformation and the Parade Ring · The Conformation
Self Portrait on a White Hunter
George Stubbs, oil on panel, 1782 · oil on panel
What it is
Stubbs sits his own white hunter in profile, dressed as plainly as any sitter he ever painted.
Why it matters
He had spent eighteen months alone with a dissecting table and a decaying horse carcass to write The Anatomy of the Horse; painting himself mounted and unadorned is the same discipline turned on its author.
What to notice
The rider's hands are held as quiet and correct on the rein as any groom's in his stable portraits — Stubbs judged himself by his own standard.
The anatomist does not spare his own likeness.
Provenance
- Maker
- George Stubbs, oil on panel, 1782
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Made
- 1782
- Figure
- George Stubbs
- Source
- Lady Lever Art Gallery (LL 3684)
Publicity
Clear — the historic British turf (the Victorian jockeys, the Vanity Fair subjects): a long-deceased figure with no post-mortem right of publicity in play. Sold as history, freely and openly.
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 944×1200 scan by AI enhancement (Claid smart-enhance), prepared for the considered detail of a print viewed at distance. The source record above is unchanged — the enhancement serves the wall, not the archive.
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 2026-07-20.
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.