Stubbs and the Horse" features 35 drawings and 40 paintings by George Stubbs, long considered the world's finest equine painter.

Walters' Mane Event
By Mary Quattlebaum
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, May 6, 2005

CELEBRITY HORSES of old could boast a portraitist on par with Leonardo da Vinci, an Englishman who could wield a paint brush as skillfully as they pounded turf. At the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, today's kids can gaze at some of the greatest horses of all time -- and learn how they developed both in the stable and on canvas.

Running through June 5, "Stubbs & the Horse" features 35 drawings and 40 paintings by George Stubbs (1724-1806), long considered the world's finest equine painter. Don't know a hoof from a haunch? No problem, says Kathy Nusbaum, the museum's manager of children and family programs. The exhibit is designed for horse lover and novice alike, with a corral full of special children's programs. On Saturday, a full-day festival promises a veterinarian, farrier, storytelling cowboy (complete with mount), sidesaddle riders, movies and, of course, horse-drawing demonstrations.

The exhibit has proved a big hit with kids. "That's been an unexpected and pleasant surprise," Nusbaum says. She credits its popularity to the subject: "There's something universally appealing -- almost magical -- about horses." But the exhibit text also deserves praise. The labels make the superb paintings especially accessible by relating the (often lively) stories behind them.

On a recent Sunday visit, my 6 1/2 -year-old, horse-crazy daughter found the three-room exhibit full of like-minded youngsters. Though the kids tended to move quickly through the first room, the meticulous studies of horse skeletons and musculature certainly merit a closer look. Like da Vinci (to whom he is often compared), Stubbs grounded his artistry in keen knowledge of anatomy. For 18 months, he secluded himself in a northern English village to dissect and carefully detail several horse carcasses, the better to know the animal from the inside out.

For Stubbs, though, the horse was much more than the sum of its parts. In the second room, his nine-foot-tall "Whistlejacket" (1762) captures the fiery beauty of the creature -- and does it so convincingly that Whistlejacket himself reportedly mistook the image for a rival stallion.

Stubbs was also recording a key moment in horse history: the advent of the thoroughbred racehorse. This speedy breed developed in the 18th century when three stallions imported from the Middle East and North Africa were crossed with British mares. Justly proud and plump of purse, the aristocratic owners of these early thoroughbreds commissioned artwork from Stubbs. On view are Whistlejacket, Scrub, Gimcrack and the amazing Eclipse, winner of 18 out of 18 races.

Less fast, perhaps, but no less interesting are the horses in Stubbs's outdoor "conversation pieces." This style of portraiture, popular at the time, showed a person engaged in some ordinary activity, say, holding his steed. As rendered by Stubbs, though, the horses often upstage their human companions. The newly married Pocklingtons shower affection -- a flowery treat, a loving pat -- on their mount rather than each other ("Captain Samuel Sharpe Pocklington With His Wife, Pleasance, and Another Lady, Possibly His Sister Frances," 1769). A dark-garbed groom fades beside a silvery hunter and Greyhound focused quietly on each other ("Gray Hunter With a Groom and a Greyhound," 1766). Indeed, probably to the delight of young viewers, Stubbs tends to dramatize moments between animals rather than humans. In "Mares and Foals" (1763-65), body language -- flattened ears, turned heads -- reveals the dynamics of a group of equine moms. A staid coachman stands in marked contrast to the fuzzy dog happily greeting a royal black horse ("The Prince of Wales's Phaeton, With the Coachman Samuel Thomas and a Tiger-Boy," 1793).

The exhibit's third room holds horse books aplenty for kids and adults, and chairs for reading or reflecting on the art. It also displays Stubbs's series on horses and lions, in which the artist harks back to the wild ancestors of the English thoroughbred. According to these paintings, in the North Africa and Middle East of the distant past, swift hooves meant the difference between life and death. Stubbs pits the tensed muscles and whinnying fear of a majestic white stallion against the sharp claw and fang of the king of beasts. There is no resolution -- no painting shows whether prey escaped or not -- so parents should be prepared for their kids' questions and personal takes on the scenes. From my own child and others, I heard, "What happened to that horse? Did the lion eat him? I think the horse kicked his head and bit him and ran away." At least from the young viewers' perspective, the lion remained an ever-hungry loser.

Perhaps the best measure of an exhibit's impact on kids is the reaction of the kids themselves. A peek inside the black "comments" book proved quite revealing. Not only did youngsters pen "Great exhibit" or "I loved it," but they also entered their own drawings. Jonathan, 9, sketched a jockey astride a noble steed; Hannah, 7, presented a prick-eared beauty; and Sara, 5, limned a mare with flowing mane. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the great Stubbs should feel flattered by this new generation of equine artists.

STUBBS & THE HORSE -- Through June 5 at the Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St., Baltimore. In the historic Mount Vernon Cultural District of Baltimore, the museum is one mile north of the Inner Harbor. Parking

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