Oil paint on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-stubbs-538" aria-label="More by George Stubbs" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">George Stubbs</a>
Horse in Shade a Wood
Purchased 1933
animals: mammals
horse
landscape
wooded
<p>This composition, showing a grey stallion in a dark wooded landscape, is unusually simple for Stubbs, as it is not enlivened by a luminous landscape or any human presence. The stark contrast between the light horse and the dark background is reminiscent of some of his ‘Horse and Lion’ paintings, when he included a white horse under attack in a cavernous landscape.</p><p>Stubbs did not limit himself to one painting method but was continually searching for other media. The technique adopted here is experimental: an unusual mixture of beeswax and pine resin, without any drying oil, on a wooden panel.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint wood
10 March 2003 – 28 June 2004
2004-06-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-10
Stubbs
Collection based display
19 May 2012 – 13 January 2013
2013-01-13
19 May 2012 – 23 September 2012
2012-09-23
2012-05-19
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
6 October 2012 – 13 January 2013
2013-01-13
2012-10-06
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
2012-05-19
Alex Katz Collection Display
Collection based display
1 October 2012 – 31 January 2013
2013-01-31
14 January 2013 – 20 January 2013
2013-01-20
2013-01-14
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
2012-10-01
Alex Katz: Give me tomorrow
Loan-out
Horse in the Shade of a Wood
support: 597 × 762 mm
frame: 770 × 940 × 85 mm
Purchased 1933
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> shows a grey stallion in a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a>. The picture would have been
commissioned by a patron as a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> of his horse, although the names of the animal and its owner are now unknown. Stubbs's earlier works usually depicted horses with a groom, jockey or owner, whereas his paintings of the 1780s and 1790s often showed
a single animal in a landscape.</p><p><strong>Further reading:</strong><br/>Judy Egerton, <em>George Stubbs 1724-1806</em>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1984, reprinted 1996, pp.20, 103</p><p>Terry Riggs<br/>January 1998<!-- end text --></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
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<span class="text14">This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>, showing a grey stallion </span><span class="text16">in a dark wooded <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a>, is unusually simple for Stubbs,      as it is not enlivened by a luminous landscape or any human presence. The      stark contrast between the light horse and the dark background is </span><span class="text14">reminiscent of some of his ‘Horse and </span><span class="text16">Lion’ paintings, when he included a white horse under      attack in a cavernous landscape.</span><span class="text0">
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<br/> </span>
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<span class="text15">Stubbs did not limit himself to one <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a></span><span class="text0"> method but was continually searching for other <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>media</span></a>.      The technique adopted here is experimental: an unusual mixture of beeswax      and pine <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/resin" title="Glossary definition for 'Resin'"><span>resin</span></a>, without any drying oil, on a wooden <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a>. </span>
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2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
animals: mammals horse landscape wooded