The Farmer's Wife and the Raven
George Stubbs·1786
Historical Context
The Farmer's Wife and the Raven from 1786 by George Stubbs illustrates an Aesop's fable, combining his animal painting skills with literary narrative. The morality tale format allowed Stubbs to extend his range beyond pure animal portraiture. Stubbs's oil technique was grounded in exhaustive anatomical study—he spent eighteen months dissecting horses at a Lincolnshire farmhouse before painting the plates for his Anatomy of the Horse (1766)—producing an exactitude of musculature and bone...
Technical Analysis
The fable illustration combines figure and animal painting with Stubbs's characteristic precision, the narrative elements integrated into a carefully composed landscape setting.
_-_Lions_and_a_Lioness_with_a_Rocky_Background_-_21-1874_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
