Selim, a Grey Hunter in a Paddock

Painted in 1802, this portrait of 'Selim', a grey hunter in a paddock, is a late-career equine portrait demonstrating Stubbs's continued engagement with the horse-and-landscape format he had developed over four decades. Grey horses were a compositional challenge and an opportunity: the range from near-white highlights through cool silver-grey mid-tones to blue-grey shadow allowed Stubbs to deploy a chromatic range unavailable in bay or chestnut commissions. A hunter — as distinct from a racehorse — was bred for the demands of the foxhunting field: longer-striding, deeper-bodied, and more robustly built than a thoroughbred sprinter. The paddock setting, rather than a stable yard or racetrack, establishes Selim in his working environment. The work was painted when Stubbs was seventy-eight, yet the technical command remains evident in the precision of the anatomy and the delicacy of the coat modelling.

Oil on canvas. The grey coat is modelled using a sophisticated cool palette — blue-white highlights, silver-grey mid-tones, and blue-grey shadows — quite different from the warm ochre-copper handling of the bay horses. Stubbs uses the horse's light coat to reflect ambient sky light, creating a luminous effect that integrates the animal with its atmospheric setting.