George Stubbs, A.R.A.

Commissioned from the artist in 1781 by Anthony Preston, 11th Viscount Gormanston (1736-1786), of Gormanston Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland (shipped to him there in July 1785);
by descent until sold, circa 1944 (untraced sale);
C. Marshall Spink;
Walter Hutchinson by whom sold London, Christie's, 20th July 1951, lot 128 (bt. by Carlyle);
acquired by Max Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964);
thence by descent to the present owners

London, Hutchinson House, National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, 1948, no. 125

Gormanston Papers, MSS, Private Collection currently in the care of the National Library of Ireland, Dublin;
T. Borenius, English Painting in the Eighteenth Century, London 1938, plate 42;
R. Fountain & A. Gates, Stubbs's Dogs, London 1984, cat. no. 24;
J. Egerton, George Stubbs; Painter, Yale 2007, p. 444, no. 227 (illus)

PAINT SURFACE The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, an independant restorer and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on a large panel composed of four pieces of oak. The central joint appears never to have moved. The other two joints have been reglued and have butterfly supports regularly spaced behind. Another faint old crack can be seen just above the upper joint. Overall there is only the faintest curve at the upper left side and the carefully selected quite thick panels seem to have remained generally unmoved and stable. The minimalist technique of the artist using quite fine washes with little impasto tends to show the grain of the wood as the paint grows naturally more transparent with age. It can also be vulnerable to radical restoration. The present restoration, probably from the sixties or seventies of the last century, has touched out the grain in the sky quite extensively, with long strokes of retouching which is now darkening slightly. In some worn patches in the foreground other darkened retouching can be seen, especially around the paws and below the dog's belly. The two reglued joints (one of which crosses the eye of the dog) also have broad bands of retouching. The forepaws are beautifully intact with all the careful modelling of the sinews, as is the near hind paw, while the far hind paw has been strengthened. The distant landscape is quite faint and blurred, as are some of the discreet grasses and rare touches of detail in the immediate foreground, however the foliage at upper left is still fairly strong, although beneath the stomach of the dog the foliage is quite heavily retouched. There is retouching along the full length of the dog's back, but the lovely minimalist suggestive touches of fur brushed along the centre of the body and chest are finely preserved. Much of the head is also in rather good condition, apart from the line of the joint crossing the eye. The signature is fine and crisp. This report was not done under laboratory conditions. FRAME Held in a twentieth century Carlo Marratta style frame, with white gold or silver leaf gilding. To speak to a specialist about this lot please contact Julian Gascoigne on +44 (0)207 293 5482, or at julian.gascoigne@sothebys.com, or Emmeline Hallmark on 44 (0)207 293 5407, or at emmeline.hallmark@sothebys.com.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This painting is a fine portrait of one of Lord Gormanston's favourite dogs. George Stubbs was then and still remains the world's greatest animal portrait painter. His paintings of dogs demonstrate his exceptional ability to portray owner's treasured animals and this painting is a rare opportunity to acquire one.

The painting was commissioned in 1781 by the 11th Viscount Gormanston of Gormanston Castle, County Meath near Dublin, one of only two irish patrons of the artist. Gormanston Castle was until c. 1950 the seat of the Preston family - the bearers of the oldest viscounty title in both Britain and Ireland. Gormanston so dearly treasured this painting and so eagerly awaited its arrival that his agent Michael Hornsby not only sent specific instructions for a case to be made for it's shipment from London to Ireland but also informed Gormanston precisely when it was to be delivered to the Custom House in Dublin (subject of course to 'the danger of the seas')[1]. Two portraits by John Opie apparently made the same journey, one of which showed the 11^th Viscount Gormanston caressing the head of his dog, thought to be the same dog as in the present portrait. Clearly the care with which Gormanston expected this painting to be treated, the appearance of the same animal in the Opie portrait of a similar date and the fact that there is another version of this portrait (on canvas which must surely have also been painted for Gormanston and is now in a private collection) suggest that this was an animal in which Gormanston took immense pride.

Unusually the precise breed of this fine animal was not recorded in any contemporary references to the painting, unlike the 'setter' which is recorded as being portrayed in another painting which Gormanston commissioned from Stubbs. The breed of this dog is generally agreed to be a pointer, but unlike Stubbs's earlier Spanish Pointer of 1766 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich) or Portrait of Sir John Nelthorpe with his dogs, 1776 (Private Collection) the present animal is not portrayed in the obvious pose or role of such working animals. Equally however, this animal is not a pet as comparison with the frivolity of setting and pose of the pet dog in, for example, the Portrait of Mrs Musters's brown and white spaniel, sitting by a clump of primroses of 1778 (Private Collection) demonstrates. Instead this dog is portrayed as a finely groomed, lean, fit and alert animal, a carefully observed specimen painted on the largest possible scale and placed at the forefront of the picture.

George Stubbs painted the work in 1781 during a period of considerable significance in his life having recently been made a full member of the Royal Academy (although he never received his diploma). Stubbs's first anatomical researches centred on the horse, but even his earliest work also shows a keen understanding of dogs and their individual characteristics and personalities. An example of this can be seen in Stubbs's first important commission, three great pictures painted for the Duke of Richmond in 1759-60 (Goodwood House). In these paintings we can already see that the compositions are greatly enlivened by the presence of dogs, where each hound has been treated in an individual way, each with his own attitude.

[1] See Judy Egerton, op.cit., 2007 p. 444