George Stubbs
British, 1724 - 1806
Captain Samuel Sharpe Pocklington with His Wife, Pleasance, and possibly His Sister, Frances, 1769
oil on canvas, 100.2 x 126.6 cm (39 1/2 x 49 7/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Charles S. Carstairs in memory of her husband, Charles Stewart Carstairs
1952.9.4

From the Tour: British Conversation Pieces and Portraits of the 1700s
Object 3 of 6

George Stubbs, one of Europe’s most important painters of animal subjects, was virtually self-taught as a zoologist, botanist, painter, and engraver. After embarking on a career as a portraitist, he became lecturer on human and animal anatomy at the hospital in York. As much a scientist as an artist, Stubbs published The Anatomy of the Horse in 1766, illustrated from his own dissections. He also experimented with Josiah Wedgwood in painting with enamels on ceramic plaques. Although Stubbs was voted into London’s Royal Academy of Art, he chose not to join that cultural institution in order to pursue his scientific studies.

This canvas celebrates the marriage in 1769 of Captain Samuel Sharpe to Pleasance Pocklington, heiress of Chelsworth Hall, Suffolk. (The captain retired from the Scots Guard in the same year and adopted his wealthy wife’s family name.) The bride in her wedding gown offers a bouquet to her husband’s steed. The other woman may be Frances, the captain’s unmarried sister.

Typical of Stubbs’ straightforward, scientific approach, the horse is rendered accurately, without artificial sentiment. The lake’s haze demonstrates Stubbs’ understanding of weather, and the majestic oak tree is an archetypal specimen that appears in his other conversation pieces.

Conservation Notes
The medium-weight canvas is plain woven; it has been lined, but the tacking margins still survive intact. The lining and nonoriginal stretcher may be over one hundred years old; fabrics were mounted on the new stretcher slightly off center, so that original paint extends slightly onto the top edge of the stretcher and about half an inch of overpainted ground appears along the bottom edge. The ground is grayish white, of moderate thickness. The painting is executed smoothly, fluidly, and fairly thickly, with low impasto. Visible to the naked eye is an old, horizontal, retouched tear about 10 cm. long extending in from the right edge slightly above the rocks. The overall craquelure was inpainted in 1984; the abrasion in the horse's rump and in the dark foliage above the horse's tail was glazed over at the same time; although the original and lining fabrics are somewhat fragile, the restoration of 1984 did not include relining. The synthetic varnish has not discolored.