'Gnawpost' and Two Other Colts

Painted in 1793 and now at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, this canvas showing 'Gnawpost' and two other colts illustrates the final phase of Stubbs's career, when he remained productive into his late seventies. Colt portraits were an important part of the thoroughbred racing economy: young horses not yet on the track needed to be documented for stud records and potential buyers, and Stubbs's reputation made his certification of a colt's conformation commercially valuable. The title's unusual specificity — naming 'Gnawpost' while leaving the others anonymous — likely reflects the owner's primary interest in that particular animal's identification. Stubbs's ability to distinguish individual horses through coat colour, markings, and characteristic stance was noted by contemporaries and remains a key reason his equine work retains scientific as well as aesthetic value. The Walker Art Gallery holds a significant Stubbs collection, and this late work sits comfortably within it.

Oil on canvas. Three colts are arranged in a loose triangular group, each given a distinct coat colour — a bay, a grey, and likely a chestnut — allowing easy individual identification. Stubbs uses the same profile convention as his single-horse portraits but adapts it for the group, varying the horses' head orientations to avoid mechanical repetition.