Sir Sidney Medows (1701-92)

Sir Sidney Medows from 1778 by George Stubbs is an equestrian portrait of a military gentleman rendered with the dual precision in human and equine anatomy that made Stubbs the preferred painter for the horse-owning aristocracy and gentry. Sir Sidney Medows was a distinguished army officer, and his equestrian portrait—placing him on horseback in a landscape—combined military dignity with the sporting culture of a mounted gentleman. Stubbs's ability to render both the rider's bearing and the horse's anatomy with equal authority gave his equestrian portraits a quality that purely portrait painters, who merely painted a generic horse shape behind the human subject, could not match. The work is held at the Royal Collection and demonstrates Stubbs's consistent ability to satisfy demanding military and aristocratic clients.

The equestrian portrait renders both rider and mount with Stubbs's characteristic dual precision in human and equine anatomy.