Stubbs horses painting up for sale for only second time
A “MONUMENTAL” painting by George Stubbs is being offered at auction for only the second time in its history.
Mares and Foals in a River Landscape is expected to fetch £7-10 million at Christie’s. Measuring 1.8m by 2.7m, it is one of a series of paintings on the theme, produced in the 1760s.
It is believed to have been painted for the 18th-century prime minister Augustus Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton.
It remained in the Grafton family until it was acquired privately in the mid-20th century by Jack R Dick, a colourful US financier-turned-cattle breeder who became one of the world’s most noted collectors of English sporting paintings.
Dick is said to have beat the Tate to buy the work, which he called “the Big Painting”.
“If you’re going to invest in horses, you’re better off doing it on canvas because those animals don’t eat, they don’t get sick and they don’t fade in the stretch,” he once said.
The painting appeared at auction for the first time in 1976, two years after Dick’s death, and was bought by a private collector in Illinois.
The descendants of that anonymous buyer are now offering it for sale at Christie’s, where it will be a highlight of the Old Masters Part I sale in London on July 1.
John Stainton, international deputy chairman, Old Master Paintings, said: “George Stubbs’ genius for animal painting is nowhere more evidence than in his series of Mares and Foals paintings. “The scale is monumental. It is a truly spectacular picture, and one of a series that helped to cement his reputation as the greatest animal painter in the history of European art.
“It is a great privilege to be offering this, Stubbs’ most ambitious work on the theme, in our summer sale.”
The quintessentially English painting is expected to attract buyers from across the world. “There hasn’t been a great Stubbs like this on the market for a long time,” Mr Stainton said.
“Stubbs definitely crosses international boundaries. The traditional markets are Europe and North American and there will be clients who come from those regions, but also there is a great love of horses in Asia and the Middle East and we have sold pictures by Stubbs to those regions.”
The work will be on public view at Christie’s in New York from May 18-22, and in the pre-sale London exhibition from June 28 to July 1.