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366:, but Rockingham then changed his mind. According to Horace Walpole, on a visit to Wentworth where he was probably shown round by the housekeeper, the painting was intended as a gift for the King, but Rockingham supposedly had not bothered to support progress of the painting after falling out of favour, and ordered it hung at Wentworth Woodhouse uncompleted instead.
294:, when the portrait was nearly finished Whistlejacket was accidentally led in front of it by a stable boy and reacted violently, treating it as a rival stallion, and lifting the boy holding him fully off the ground in his attempts to attack the painting. The story probably originated with Stubbs himself, but is probably too good to be true; it clearly recalls
173:, but in these the emphasis is on the rider. Here the horse is alone and in a natural state, producing a "romantic study in solitude and liberty". Like many of Stubbs's other paintings of horses and other animals in the wild, including several versions of a horse attacked by a lion perched on its back, the painting is an early intimation of
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To a greater degree than any earlier painter, Stubbs produced genuinely individual portraits of specific horses, paying intimate attention to details of their form. Minute blemishes, veins, and the muscles flexing just below the surface of the skin are all visible and reproduced with great care and
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are "unprecedented" in his work and equine portraits in general and "contemporaries were so astonished that a single horse should command a huge canvas that legends quickly developed" explaining why the painting was unfinished, none of which seem plausible or supported by the evidence to modern art
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He was beaten only four times in his racing career, but was notoriously temperamental and difficult to manage. He was "averagely successful at stud", and must have died before
Rockingham's death in 1782, as he is not listed in records of the subsequent sale of the stud; he would have been in his
369:
Another reason popularly given for it being "unfinished" is that
Rockingham was so impressed by Whistlejacket's furious reaction when confronted by Stubbs working on the painting in his stable, that he ordered it hung without further decoration. Stubbs produced other paintings of horses against
221:
where he carried out dissections and experiments on dead horses to better understand the animal's physiology. He suspended the cadavers with block and tackle to better able sketch them in different positions. The careful notes and drawings he made during his studies were published in 1766 in
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so that it can be seen through ten intervening rooms from the
Sainsbury Wing, at the other end of the gallery. It is consistently among the top ten most popular National Gallery paintings in various forms of reproduction. The painting is in "very good condition" and was
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Egerton (1998), 243–244; Landry, 157–158 (illustrated in both); they are 99 x 190.5/187 cm, recorded in
Rockingham's accounts on 15 August 1762, at £195.5s for five paintings (Egerton). Both remain in the family, but were exhibited in the Stubbs exhibition shown at
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for one
Picture of a Lion and another of a Horse Large as Life", probably a different picture for Rockingham's London house. Earlier in 1762, Stubbs had painted a second portrait of Whistlejacket, with two other unnamed stallions and a groom, Joshua or Simon Cobb.
240:, and exceptionally rich even by the standards of that wealthy group. In 1762 he commissioned Stubbs to produce a series of portraits of his horses, one of which was Whistlejacket. He was also a collector of art, commissioning several works in Italy on his
358:; Stubbs would paint the horse while two other notable portrait and landscape painters would fill in the king and the landscape respectively. In one account, The painting was supposedly intended to accompany a similarly sized equestrian portrait of
111:
approximately at life-size, rearing up against a plain background. The canvas is large, lacks any other content except some discreet shadows, and Stubbs has paid precise attention to the details of the horse's appearance. It has been described in
226:. Even before the publication of his book, Stubbs's dedication to his subject reaped him rewards: his drawings were recognized as more accurate than the work of other equine artists and commissions from aristocratic patrons quickly followed.
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historians. In fact Stubbs's earliest canvases on his visit in 1762 included a pair of much smaller paintings of groups of standing horses, one including
Whistlejacket, in a horizontal format "like a classical frieze" with a similar honey
370:
blank backgrounds for
Rockingham, nothing in the painting indicates that it is not complete, and the detail of the shadows cast by Whistlejacket's rear legs on the ground suggest that this is how Stubbs intended the picture to be seen.
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in 1755, but won the following year, when he was also narrowly beaten by
Spectator for the Jockey Club Plate at Newmarket in 1756. He was sold soon after to the Marquess of Rockingham. He famously won a four-mile race at
189:
realism. Whistlejacket had already retired after a fairly successful racing career, but was painted in this unusual form to show "a supremely beautiful specimen of the pure-bred
Arabian horse at its finest".
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1984–85, and the
National Gallery from 1996 before its purchase the next year. It is now displayed in the centre of room 34, and is framed by doorways at the end of a long
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264:, on the visit in 1766 mentioned below, complained of the un-landscaped park "This lord loves nothing but horses, and the enclosures for them take place of everything".
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background broken only by small shadows at the feet. It would seem likely that leaving the portraits without the usual landscape background was Rockingham's idea.
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to keep it company. Wentworth Woodhouse ceased to be occupied by the family after World War II, and the painting was loaned to
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274:, other Rockingham horses painted by Stubbs on his visit in 1762. Whistlejacket was in the pair piece showing stallions.
309:, a 40-foot square "Whistlejacket Room" was created to showcase the painting, with only single family portraits by Sir
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thirties if alive. He was not nearly as famous a horse as his sire and grand-sire, but is mentioned in Act IV of
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in August 1759 against a strong field, beating Brutus by a length, and then retired to stud, being ten years old.
282:", though some indication of the likely price comes from a receipt by Stubbs dated 30 December 1762 for "Eighty
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The Wentworth archives, "though unusually comprehensive, contain no clear reference to the commission to paint
256:, for there is always a possibility of some sort of pleasure in that; but not the smallest in other sorts".
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709:"A HISTORY OF THE KING'S AND QUEEN'S PLATES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, FROM 1634 TO 1765"
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Landry, 152–153, giving Humphrey's account in full; Egerton does not mention the story
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One story was that Rockingham had intended to commission an equestrian portrait of
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in Northumberland, and named after a contemporary cold remedy containing gin and
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in the late 1740s, but his great leisure interests were, typically for his class,
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According to a story in the biography of Stubbs by his friend and fellow-painter
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is planned: "I have got you a pair of horses that will fly like Whistlejacket".
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292 cm × 246.4 cm (115 in × 97 in)
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as "a paradigm of the flawless beauty of an Arabian thoroughbred". The
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778:(1998): Egerton, Judy, National Gallery Catalogues (new series):
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who in 1762 was invited by Rockingham to spend "some months" at
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Noble Brutes: How Eastern Horses Transformed English Culture
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205:(1761–62), a more typical racehorse portrait (101 × 127 cm)
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illustrated below is not the one with Whistlejacket in it.
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was unsurpassed by any painter; he had studied anatomy at
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and tail, believed to be the original colouring of the
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Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
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662:"Whistlejacket", and see linked floor plan.
875:George Stubbs, painter: catalogue raisonné
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903:Paintings in the National Gallery, London
689:Egerton (1998), 245; see also Landry, 157
157:Stubbs depicts Whistlejacket rising to a
923:Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom
721:"Whistlejacket Pedigree and Race Record"
707:A major race run between 1634 and 1765,
130:, London to acquire it for £11 million.
468:George Stubbs, Painter, by Judy Egerton
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217:and, from 1756, he spent 18 months in
99:from about 1762 by the British artist
918:Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom
811:"Whistlejacket, George Stubbs (1762)"
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539:Saint George and the Dragon (Rubens)
272:Mares and Foals without a background
727:from the original on 11 March 2016
536:Egerton, 245. For example Rubens'
407:Sir William Middleton, 3rd Baronet
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809:Jones, Jonathan (22 April 2000).
321:in London from 1971 to 1981, the
203:Molly Long-legs with her Jockey
16:C1762 painting by George Stubbs
236:politician, later to be twice
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563:Landry, 149–150, 153–155, 156
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723:. Thoroughbred Bloodlines.
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908:Paintings by George Stubbs
397:Arabian breed. He was a
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348:A Lion Attacking a Horse
338:Legends as to the origin
224:The Anatomy of the Horse
165:, including examples by
133:Stubbs was a specialist
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527:Egerton (1998), 243–244
405:in 1749 at the stud of
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97:oil-on-canvas painting
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445:She Stoops to Conquer
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300:Zeuxis and Parrhasius
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124:Heritage Lottery Fund
378:Whistlejacket was a
163:equestrian portraits
833:, 2008, JHU Press,
754:Egerton (1998), 246
680:Egerton (1998), 242
653:Egerton (1998), 240
644:Egerton (1998), 246
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590:Egerton (1998), 243
492:Egerton (1998), 245
483:Egerton (1998), 240
474:, 25 November 2007.
298:'s famous story of
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139:Wentworth Woodhouse
855:. National Gallery
796:. National Gallery
780:The British School
508:Walker Art Gallery
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401:race horse
246:horseracing
175:Romanticism
56: 1762
44:(1724–1806)
892:Categories
839:0801890284
788:1857091701
770:References
389:-coloured
356:George III
242:Grand Tour
70:Dimensions
731:27 August
512:Liverpool
450:elopement
427:Newmarket
360:George II
201:Stubbs's
171:Velázquez
143:Yorkshire
109:racehorse
817:. London
782:, 1998,
725:Archived
506:and the
383:stallion
380:chestnut
327:enfilade
313:and Sir
254:the turf
250:gambling
84:, London
78:Location
859:1 April
821:1 April
800:1 April
776:Egerton
542:in the
415:treacle
385:, with
284:Guineas
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403:foaled
387:flaxen
232:was a
167:Rubens
159:levade
95:is an
62:Medium
38:Artist
554:Jones
544:Prado
456:Notes
332:lined
152:beige
879:ISBN
861:2010
835:ISBN
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802:2010
784:ISBN
733:2018
432:York
395:wild
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