T.N., who noted he was a friend of Stubbsâs life-long companion, Mary Spencer, described an encounter that Stubbs had while visiting Italy, in an article published two years after the artistâs death:
âOne evening, while Stubbs and his friend were viewing the delightful scenery, and a thousand beautiful objects, from this elevation, which the brilliancy of the moon rendered more interesting, a lion was observed at some distance, directing his way, with a slow pace, towards a white Barbary horse, which appeared grazing not more than two hundred yards distant from the moat [of the private zoo]. Mr. Stubbs was reminded of the gratification he had so often wished for. The orb of night was perfectly clear, and the horizon serene. The lion did not make towards the horse by a regular approach, but performed many curvatures, still drawing nearer towards the devoted animal, till the lion, by the shelter of a rocky situation, came suddenly upon his prey. The affrighted barb beheld his enemy, and, as if conscious of his fate, threw himself into an attitude highly interesting to the painter. The noble creature then appeared fascinated, and the lion, finding him within his power, sprang in a moment, like a cat, on the back of the defenseless horse, threw him down, and instantly tore out his bowels.â
T.N. in The Sporting Magazine (May 1808): 55-7 and (July 1808): 155-7; cited in Basil Taylor, âGeorge Stubbs: âThe Lion and Horseâ Theme,â The Burlington Magazine, vol. 107, no. 743 (February 1965): 82.
janainaart
theartofmadeline
jacobvanloon
titsay
germansingergirl
gummygunk
dededos
