Portrait of a Gentleman

Portrait of a Gentleman from 1791 by George Stubbs is one of his relatively rare pure portrait commissions without equine elements. Stubbs's human portraits, while less celebrated than his animal paintings, demonstrate competent figure painting. 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...

The portrait demonstrates Stubbs's ability in formal portraiture, with careful attention to the sitter's features and costume.