Reaper

Reaper from 1795 by George Stubbs depicts a working draught horse rather than the thoroughbreds and hunters that made up the bulk of his equestrian production. The working horse subject, named for its role rather than for individual identity, reflects a strain in Stubbs's work that ran counter to the aristocratic sporting commissions dominating his output—a direct engagement with the agricultural economy that sustained rural England. Stubbs exhibited working-class subjects alongside his aristocratic commissions at the Royal Academy, drawing criticism from those who felt such material beneath serious art. The late date places the work among his final paintings, and the choice of a draught horse suggests an artist expanding his range in the final decade of a long career. The work is held at the Yale Center for British Art.

The working horse is rendered with the same anatomical precision Stubbs brought to thoroughbreds, his late technique maintaining the scientific accuracy of his career-long study.