Portrait of Joseph Banks

George Stubbs painted Portrait of Joseph Banks around 1764, depicting the young naturalist and botanist who would go on to sail with Cook on his first voyage (1768–71) and become one of the most influential figures in British science. Banks appears as a confident young gentleman, not yet the President of the Royal Society he would become, rendered with the directness and psychological presence characteristic of Stubbs's best portraiture. The portrait documents Banks before the voyage that would make his reputation and before his eventual lifelong association with Kew Gardens and the promotion of natural history as a national scientific enterprise.

Stubbs combines his equestrian expertise with portrait painting, placing Banks on horseback in a landscape setting. The anatomical precision of the horse and the careful rendering of Banks's features demonstrate Stubbs's dual mastery of animal and human subjects.