On your wall
Conformation and the Parade Ring · The Conformation
Whistlejacket
George Stubbs, 1762 · oil on canvas
What it is
The rearing Arabian against pure ground — no rider, no landscape, no excuse: the horse as the entire subject.
Why it matters
Stubbs spent years on equine anatomy before he painted a stroke; this is the knowledge, at life size, refusing decoration.
What to notice
The empty background was the radical act — nothing to look at but the animal, which was the point.
Majesty needs no saddle.
Provenance
- Maker
- George Stubbs, 1762
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The Yard Wakes
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Made
- 1762
- Horse
- Whistlejacket
- Source
- The National Gallery, London (via family framework · faithful-repro basis) · NG6569
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 2.13× from the surviving 3463×4226 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 27x41" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
Race Horses Before the Stands
Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath
The Horse Fair
Mr E. J. Irwin's Foig-a-Ballagh, Winner of the 1844 St Leger
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.