George Stubbs, A.R.A.

Acquired from the artist by Thomas Bradford (fl. 1765–1773), print seller and publisher of Fleet Street, London;

From whose estate purchased by Robert Sayer (1725–1794), map and print seller of Fetter Lane, circa 1773, together with a half share in the copperplate engraving;

By inheritance to his son, James Sayer (recorded by Laurie and Whittle, 1795);

His sale, Richmond Hill, Surrey, on the premises, Christie’s, 24 May 1802, lot 65, to Coote, for £11–6d.;

General Sir Eyre Coote (1762–1823), West Park, Hampshire;

By descent to his son, Eyre Coote (1806–1834), Member of Parliament for Clonmel;

By inheritance to his widow, Elizabeth Rosetta (1808–1858), who later married Rear-Admiral Armar Lowry Corry (1793–1855);

Possibly with Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, circa 1922;

Walter Hutchinson (1887–1950);

His estate sale (‘The second portion of the Important Collection of Sporting Pictures, sold by order of Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Limited’), London, Christie’s, 14 December 1951, lot 166, to Grantham;

Eben Beers Knowlton (1878–1975), Lakeville, Connecticut, U.S.A.;

By whose Estate sold (‘The Property of the Estate of the late Eben Beers Knowlton of Lakeville, Connecticut’), London, Sotheby’s, 19 July 1972, lot 98, to Roy Miles;

Possibly with Ackerman and Johnson, circa 1984 (remnants of one of the firm’s old labels, verso of frame, only partial);

Private collection, Philadelphia;

Thence by descent. 

R. Laurie and J. Whittle, Laurie and Whittle’s Catalogue of New and Interesting Prints, London 1795, p. 1 (the painting recorded in the collection of James Sayer, Richmond Hill);

J. Duchesne, Notice des estampes exposées à la Bibliothèque Royale, formant un aperçu historique des produits de la gravure, Paris, 3^rd ed., Paris 1837, p. 85 (where the author records seeing the present painting at West Park in 1824);

J. Duchesne, Description des estampes exposées à la Bibliothèque Royale, Paris 1855, p. 151 (the painting recorded as still at West Park);

W. Gilbey, The Life of George Stubbs R.A. [sic], privately printed 1898, pp. 94 and 222;

W. Shaw Sparrow, British Sporting Artists, London 1922, p. 141, reproduced facing p. 140 (‘reproduced by permission of Messrs. Agnew.’);

J. Wheatley, The first 600 selected pictures. National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, founded by Walter Hutchinson, Esquire…, London 1950, p. 30, no. 136;

L. Parris, George Stubbs A.R.A.: ‘Leopard at Play’ and ‘The Spanish Pointer’; an illustrated commentary and notes by Leslie Parris to accompany to limited editions taken from the still-surviving copper plates, London 1974, p. 13;

R. Fountain and A. Gates, Stubbs’ Dogs. The Hounds and Domestic Dogs of the Eighteenth Century as seen through the paintings of George Stubbs, London 1984, pp. 43–44 and 83–84, no. 2B;

C. Lennox-Boyd, R. Dixon and T. Clayton, George Stubbs. The Complete Engraved Works, London 1989, pp. 88–89 (listed as the source of the engraving);

N. Price and R. Fountain, The Engraved Works of George Stubbs 1724–1806, London 2005, p. 21;

J. Egerton, George Stubbs, Painter. Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London 2007, pp. 256–57, reproduced in colour;

H. W. Rott (ed.), George Stubbs 1724–1806. Science into Art, exh. cat., Munich, London and New York 2012, pp. 95, 148 and 219 (listed as the version owned by Bradford and the source of the engraving). 

Engraved

By William Woollett in line engraving with etching, first published by Thomas Bradford, 1 January 1768.

London, Hutchinson House, National Gallery of Sports and Pastimes, 1948, no. 136.